The Ukrainian army said on Saturday “to advance” around Bakhmout, the epicenter of fighting with Russian troops in eastern Ukraine, while Moscow assured to continue its progress in the city already mainly under its control and today largely ravaged.
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“The defensive operation in the direction of Bakhmout continues. Our soldiers are advancing in some areas of the front, and the enemy is losing equipment and troops,” Ukrainian ground troops commander Oleksandre Syrsky said on Telegram.
The day before, Ukraine had said it had advanced two kilometers around Bakhmout, which Moscow had denied.
On Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry did not comment on the Ukrainian claims, however, indicating in a statement that “assault units liberated a district in the northwestern part of the city of Artyomovsk”, the Russian name for Bakhmout.
The battle for Bakhmout is the bloodiest and longest since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
Observers doubt the strategic significance of conquering this city for Russia, but it would allow Moscow to post a victory after several humiliating setbacks.
For its part, Kyiv assumes that it wants to tire the Russian army as much as possible by fixing it in this area of Donbass before launching an offensive aimed at reconquering the occupied territories in the east and south of the country, the preparations for which “are reaching their end” according to Ukrainian officials.
Moscow also accused Kyiv on Saturday of having used British long-range Storm Shadow missiles the day before to target “civilian targets” in the Lugansk region (east) under Russian control.
Russia reported “wounded, including six children” in this strike attributed to the Ukrainian army.