Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that the situation on the military ground was currently “most difficult” near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, days after pro-Russian forces announced they were closer to this city.
• Read also: Norway: arrest of a second Russian with a drone
• Read also: Russia: an oil depot on fire after a strike on a border region of Ukraine
“A very serious situation persists in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions”, in the Donbass industrial basin, Zelensky said in his daily message.
“The hardest part is near Bakhmout, like the previous days. We are still holding our positions,” he added.
Russian-backed separatist forces in Ukraine’s Donetsk region said on Thursday they had taken two nearby villages, Opytin and Ivangrad.
For weeks, Russian troops have been pounding Bakhmout, a city that once had 70,000 inhabitants, in the hope of seizing it.
About fifteen kilometers from Bakhmout, in Chassiv Yar, AFP journalists spoke to a soldier who had just returned from the front line in this region.
“For days, I didn’t sleep, I didn’t eat, I didn’t drink, except coffee,” said this 50-year-old soldier from the 93e brigade nicknamed “Poliak”.
“Of the 13 guys in my group, we lost two soldiers, and five were evacuated”, continued this soldier, slightly injured by shrapnel and showing signs of exhaustion.
“It’s our life now. We will do everything for our country,” he said again, almost on the verge of tears.
For weeks, Ukrainian troops have been recovering large swaths of territory in southern and eastern Ukraine.