Town of Bakhmut was destroyed within the fighting. This aerial view is from May 23, 2023.
Defense of Ukraine | Anadolu Agency | Getty’s paintings
Clashes continue across the devastated city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and Moscow continues to suffer “significant casualties” despite a relative easing of combat operations in recent days, Kiev’s armed forces said on Sunday.
Russia claimed late last month to have captured Bakhmut after what became the longest and bloodiest battle of the war, but Ukraine says its forces still hold a small foothold and denies that Moscow has complete control of the town.
Ukraine’s top military command said in its day by day report that Russian forces carried out two unsuccessful operations around Bakhmut and carried out a series of airstrikes and artillery fire on nearby villages.
It was reported that about 23 combat clashes took place within the Donetsk region, where Bakhmut is situated, and in neighboring Luhansk within the last 24 hours. Russia says it has annexed each regions of Ukraine together with three others, including Crimea.
“The enemy continues to suffer significant losses within the direction of Bakhmut,” the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskiy, said on the Telegram messaging app on Saturday after the troops visited the realm. “The defense forces are still fighting. We are going to win.”
Reuters couldn’t independently confirm the coverage of the battlefield.
Remark posts?
Once inhabited by 70,000 people, Bakhmut is of no strategic value, in line with military analysts, but Moscow says capturing it might help its forces advance deep into eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said that Kiev’s forces still control the southwestern outskirts of Bakhmut.
Responding to her comments, the pinnacle of the Russian Wagner mercenary group, the predominant force behind Moscow’s Bakhmut offensive, said on Sunday that Ukrainian troops can have arrange statement posts there.
“If that is the case, wait for the following steps,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an audio post on Telegram.
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Prigozhin said earlier this week that 99% of his fighters had left Bakhmut after being handed over to the Russian army.
British military intelligence said on Saturday that Russia was continuing to redeploy regular military units to the Bakhmut sector, replacing Wagner fighters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview published Saturday that his forces are able to launch a long-awaited counter-offensive to reclaim territory currently occupied by Russia.
Kiev hopes the counter-offensive will change the dynamics of the war that has been occurring since 15 months ago when Russia invaded its smaller neighbor.