The Russian Defense Minister has conducted an inspection in the conflict zone of eastern Ukraine, his ministry said on Saturday, as the battle for the symbolic city of Bakhmout rages.
The Russian Ministry of Defense indicated that Sergei Shoigu had inspected a forward command post in the “Donetsk-South” zone during a visit “to the zone of the special military operation”, without specifying the exact location. , nor the proximity to the front line, nor the date of this visit.
The ministry released a video showing Mr. Shoigu traveling in a helicopter, then speaking – without a helmet or combat gear – with a soldier in the same uniform, in front of damaged buildings, under the guard of a soldier .
The day before, the paramilitary group Wagner, which regularly accuses the Russian army command of not providing enough support, claimed to have “virtually surrounded” Bakhmout, in the Donetsk region, and called on President Volodymyr Zelensky to sound the withdrawal of his troops.
The battle for Bakhmout, an industrial city whose strategic importance is disputed, has been going on since the summer. The city has become a symbol, because it has been at the heart of the fighting between Russians and Ukrainians for months.
“Epicenter” of the conflict
“The situation in Bakhmout is difficult, but under control,” a spokesman for the Ukrainian army, Serguiï Tcherevaty, told the My-Ukraina television channel on Saturday.
According to him, the city, now largely destroyed and largely emptied of its inhabitants, is currently the “epicenter” of the conflict.
In recent weeks, Russian forces have advanced, cutting off three of four Ukrainian supply routes and making the position of the defenders increasingly precarious.
“Wagner’s units have practically surrounded Bakhmout, there is only one road left” to get out, Wagner’s boss, Evguéni Prigojine, said on Friday in a video published by his press service.
In military uniform and helmet, Mr. Prigojine called on Mr. Zelensky – who had sworn to defend Bakhmout “as long as possible” – to order the Ukrainian troops to withdraw from the city.
On Saturday, the Ukrainian army general staff said it had repelled more than 150 Russian attacks in the past 24 hours in this area.
The British Ministry of Defense stressed on Saturday that the Russian regular army and the Wagner group had advanced in the northern suburbs of Bakhmout, a city which is now “vulnerable to attacks from three sides”.
“Ukraine is reinforcing the area with elite units and in the past 36 hours two key bridges in Bakhmout have been destroyed, including a vital bridge linking the city to the last main supply route,” the ministry said. British.
kyiv said on Saturday that the head of Ukraine’s special forces, General Viktor Khorenko, had inspected units defending Bakhmout.
New American aid
As this fierce fighting continues, President Joe Biden announced $400 million in new military aid to Ukraine on Friday.
Western military aid to Ukraine has been crucial in enabling Kiev to resist Russian troops and even regain ground, but the Kremlin has said such aid would only “prolong the conflict”.
Washington nevertheless included in this military support ammunition, notably for the Himars rocket system, which Ukrainian forces used with devastating effect on Russian troops and logistics lines.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov hailed a new “solid investment for the future successes of the Ukrainian army on the battlefield”.
For his part, Volodymyr Zelensky received on Saturday in Lviv, in western Ukraine, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola. “Ukraine aims […] to start negotiations to join the EU this year,” he said on Telegram.
Ms. Metsola said she shares this objective. “The future of Ukraine is in the European Union,” she said.
Meanwhile, several officials from Ukrainian regions in the south and east of the country have reported new Russian fire against civilian infrastructure in the past 24 hours.
Ukrainian emergency services said on Saturday that the death toll from the strike on a residential building in Zaporizhia overnight from Wednesday to Thursday had risen to 10, including a child.
The authorities also announced the death of two civilians during a “Russian artillery” strike on Saturday morning on the town of Goulyai Pole, and two other deaths during shootings at the town of Chervonohryhorivka in the Dnipro region.
On Telegram, the mayor of the town of Horlivka, under the control of pro-Russian separatists from Donetsk, told him that two civilians had been killed during a bombardment coming from “Ukrainian forces”.