Global Courant
The city of Bakhmut has been destroyed in the fighting. This aerial photo is from May 23, 2023.
Defense of Ukraine | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Fighting around the devastated city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine continues and Moscow continues to suffer “considerable casualties” despite a relative easing of combat operations in recent days, Kiev’s armed forces said on Sunday.
Russia claimed to have captured Bakhmut late last month after what became the longest and bloodiest battle of the war, but Ukraine says its forces still have a small foothold and denies that Moscow has full control of the city.
Ukraine’s top military command said in its daily report on Sunday that Russian forces had launched two failed operations around Bakhmut and launched a number of airstrikes and artillery fires on nearby villages.
It said some 23 fighting had taken place in the past 24 hours in the Donetsk region, where Bakhmut is located, and in neighboring Luhansk. Russia claims to have annexed both regions from Ukraine, along with three others, including Crimea.
“The enemy continues to suffer significant losses towards Bakhmut,” Ukrainian ground forces commander Oleksandr Syrskyi told the Telegram messaging app on Saturday after visiting troops in the area. “Defense forces keep fighting. We will win.”
Reuters was unable to independently verify the battlefield reports.
Observation posts?
Bakhmut, once home to 70,000 people, has no strategic value according to military analysts, but Moscow has said its capture would help its forces push deeper into eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian deputy defense minister Hanna Malyar said Kyiv’s forces still controlled the southwestern suburbs of Bakhmut.
In response to her remarks, the head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, the main driving force behind Moscow’s offensive in Bakhmut, said on Sunday that Ukrainian troops may have set up observation posts there.
“If this is the case, wait for the next steps,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an audio message on Telegram.
Prigozhin said earlier this week that 99% of his fighters had left Bakhmut after handing it over to the Russian army.
Britain’s defense intelligence agency said on Saturday that Russia was continuing to redeploy regular military units in the Bakhmut sector, replacing Wagner fighters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview published on Saturday that his troops were ready to launch the long-awaited counter-offensive to reclaim the now-Russian-held territory.
Kiev hopes the counter-offensive will change the dynamics of the war that has raged since Russia invaded its smaller neighbor 15 months ago.
