The top commander of the Ukrainian army said his forces were repelling a Russian attack on the city in the Donbas region.
Ukrainian forces are “managing to stabilize” the situation around the eastern Ukrainian city. Bakhmutthe head of the Ukrainian army said.
The now destroyed city has been the focus of the biggest battle of Russia’s war in recent months.
Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Ukraine, said that after a phone call with the Chief of Staff of the British Ministry of Defense Tony Radakin, the situation on the front line was “most difficult in the direction of Bakhmut”.
“Thanks to the great efforts of the Self-Defense Forces, we are trying to stabilize the situation,” said Zaluzhny say in a post on Facebook late Friday.
BakhmutOnce a population of about 70,000, there were barely any civilians left during months of fierce fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces although some residents remained.
Russian forces have been working to gain many interests around the city, whose symbolic importance has surpassed any military significance as the battle dragged on.
The battle for Bakhmut was one of the bloodiest and longest battles of the war, entering its second year in February.
According to the latest intelligence update on Saturday from the British Ministry of Defense, the Russian attack on Bakhmut “much has stalled”.
“This is likely mainly the result of excessive attrition of Russian forces,” the British statement read, adding that Ukraine also “suffered heavy casualties”.
Ukraine’s senior military commander Oleksandr Syrsky said a counterattack could soon be launched against the “exhausted” Russian forces nearby. Bakhmut.
Syrsky said: “The invader did not give up hope of capturing Bakhmut at all costs despite the loss of manpower and equipment.
“Leave nothing, they are losing significant strength and becoming exhausted,” he added, referring to Ukraine’s successful counterattacks last year when he said, “We will soon take advantage of this opportunity.” this association as we did near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliya and Kupiansk.”
But President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a counterattack was unlikely now because his country lacked weapons, equipment and ammunition.
Zelenskyy’s assessment, made in a report published on Saturday in the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun, comes after he visited troops near the Bakhmut frontline on Wednesday.
“We can’t start yet,” Zelenskyy said. Without tanks and artillery, he said, “no brave soldier” could go to the front.
head of Russia Wagner Private MilitiaYevgeny Prigozhin, previously said that his forces are controlling about 70% of Bakhmut.
About 10,000 UkrainiansThe International Committee of the Red Cross said on Friday that many elderly and disabled people remain in and around Bakhmut and are suffering “very bad conditions”.
Umar Khan of the relief group said at a press conference: “They… spent almost the whole day in intense shelling in the bunkers. “All you see is people pushed to the limits of their existence, their survivability and their resilience.”
