Russia stepped up its attack on Bakhmut’s primary goal over the weekend, killing a girl attempting to escape a besieged Ukrainian city of greater than 70,000.
As well as, two men were seriously injured by gunfire on Saturday while attempting to cross a makeshift bridge outside the administrative center of the region in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian soldiers said.
As some Ukrainians tried to flee the “hell on earth” that Bakhmut had develop into, others crouched as Russian forces closed in on taking the city – seen by Moscow as a key goal in its eastern assault.
There are only 4,000 people left in Bakhmut, in accordance with deputy mayor Oleksandr Marchenko he told the BBC it was “almost destroyed”, as was Mariupol, a city occupied by Russia at the starting of the war.
A Ukrainian army official warned that it was too dangerous for refugees to depart Bakhmut, and said they were fleeing on foot as a substitute – some using a pontoon bridge arrange by the army.
A brief escape route emerged after Ukrainian forces destroyed two key bridges on the outskirts of the city after Russian troops entered the northern suburbs.
![A general view of a building destroyed by a Russian military strike during the Russian assault on Ukraine in the frontline city of Bakhmut in Ukraine, March 3, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000007601520.jpg?w=1024)
On Friday, observers said drastic motion could mean Ukraine abandoning parts of the city. Troops can “conduct a limited and controlled withdrawal from particularly difficult stretches of eastern Bakhmut” while limiting Russian exit routes to the west, said The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank.
Had Bakhmut fallen to the Russians, Moscow would have won a rare recent victory in a protracted invasion, disrupting Ukrainian supply lines and setting the stage for its forces to advance on other strongholds in Donetsk.
Those that remained in the cleared parts of the city said they were unable to satisfy even basic needs.
![An overhead view shows an empty street and buildings destroyed by a Russian military attack as Russia attacks Ukraine, in the frontline city of Bakhmut, Ukraine on March 3, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000007601640.jpg?w=1024)
“Humanitarian aid is provided to us just once a month. There isn’t any electricity, water or gas,” Natalia Iszkowa said on Saturday.
“I pray to God that everybody who’s left here will survive,” she added.
A UN spokesman said Friday that a limited number of humanitarian partners in the city are focused on evacuating the most vulnerable residents.
In keeping with materials published by the Kremlin, in a crisis situation, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited an undisclosed location in eastern Ukraine to award state decorations to soldiers.
![An overhead view shows an empty street and buildings destroyed by a Russian military attack as Russia attacks Ukraine, in the frontline city of Bakhmut, Ukraine on March 3, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000007601630.jpg?w=1024)
In southern Ukraine, the death toll from Thursday’s rocket attack on a residential constructing in Zaporizhia has risen to 11, including a toddler, authorities said.
Local officials said additional shelling on Saturday killed two residents in the surrounding region. In Nikopol, a 57-year-old woman and a 68-year-old man were killed after artillery shells and rockets were fired by Russia from across the Dnieper.
Nearly 600 miles west in Lviv, near the Polish border, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and held talks with US Attorney General Merrick Garland and legal officials on the best technique to defend against invaders.
![A Ukrainian soldier digs a trench outside the city of Bakhmut on the front line, during the Russian attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine March 4, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000007628079.jpg?w=1024)
Metsola told reporters that “all those responsible” for Russian war crimes, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, will probably be delivered to justice at the newly proposed international law enforcement center in The Hague.
She also called on the West to proceed arming Ukrainian forces in the east and south, and said that Ukraine should start negotiations on joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“Ukraine’s future lies in the European Union. We’ll go all the way with you,” Metsola tweeted on Friday.
Ukraine was launched on the path to EU membership in June – a process that would take years and even many years in times of peace. Nonetheless, during the war, there was a renewed urgency to think about fast-tracking applications.
![Soldiers from the Ukrainian assault brigade enter the command bunker, waiting for orders to fire a British L118 105mm howitzer into Russian trenches, March 4, 2023, near Bakhmut, Ukraine.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000007665327.jpg?w=1024)
Russia invaded the territory of the former Soviet Union under false pretenses, taking steps towards NATO, an alliance between 28 other European nations, the United States and Canada.
With postal wires