Russia says it has made gains in Bakhmut as the battle for the city rages on
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A Ukrainian service member firing a howitzer D30 at a front-line, near the city of Bakhmut, on April 23.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BAKHMUT – Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Thursday its forces had taken four blocks in north-western, western and south-western Bakhmut, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported.
Reuters could not independently confirm the claim.
Russian forces have been struggling for months to capture the city in eastern Ukraine.
Hours before the Defence Ministry’s update, the head of the Wagner mercenary group said it was suspending artillery fire in Bakhmut to allow Ukrainian forces on the other side of the front line to safely show the city to visiting US journalists.
Reuters could not independently verify Wagner’s plans.
Wagner has been spearheading Russia’s assault on Bakhmut since last summer in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war.
But Ukrainian forces have so far thwarted its attempts to take full control of the city.
Bakhmut continued to be pounded on Wednesday by Russian forces. The head of Wagner said on Wednesday that Ukrainian troops were pouring in ahead of an “inevitable” counter-offensive.
Mr Serhiy Cherevatiy, spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern group of forces, told national television on Wednesday that in the preceding 24 hours, Russian forces had attacked 324 times using artillery and multiple rocket launchers.
“The Russians are destroying buildings in Bakhmut to prevent our soldiers from using them as fortifications,” Mr Cherevatiy said.
On Tuesday, he said there had been a record number of attacks on a section of the front farther north – near the city of Kupiansk, in north-eastern Ukraine.
The governor of the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv said that Russian missiles had hit an apartment building and a private house in the city of the same name.
One person was killed and 15 were injured, Mr Vitaliy Kim wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Reuters was not able to verify battlefield reports.
Top prize
Bakhmut remains the prize sought for now by Russian troops. They have tried for some nine months to push their way into the largely destroyed city in a conflict now extending into its 15th month and have secured some central districts.
Ukraine’s military has vowed to defend what was once a city of 70,000, though Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested in April that it might pull out if in danger of encirclement.
Wagner’s founder, Mr Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said in April that its forces controlled 80 per cent of the city.
Mr Prigozhin said his forces “will advance at any cost, just to grind down the Ukrainian army and disrupt their offensive”.
Ukrainian paramedics loading a bag containing the body of a fallen serviceman into a medical evacuation vehicle on a road near Bakhmut.
PHOTO: AFP
Ukraine’s military has made no comment on a new counter-offensive to build on advances undertaken in 2022 to recapture Russian-occupied areas in the north-east and the south.
In Washington, the top United States general in Europe said Ukraine’s military would get the weaponry it needed in time.
General Christopher Cavoli, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, cited as an example that more than 98 per cent of the combat vehicles promised to Kyiv had already been delivered.
Military analyst Denys Popovych told Ukrainian NV Radio that there was no immediate prospect of turning things around in Bakhmut.
“If Bakhmut falls, Russia will have resources to send elsewhere,” Mr Popovych said. “Bakhmut offers an opportunity to destroy Russian troops and prevent them from being engaged elsewhere.”
REUTERS
