Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has conceded that his army is engaged in a “painful and difficult” battle in the east of the country.
High-intensity fighting continues in Bakhmout, a symbolic city in eastern Ukraine. Russian troops are trying to encircle the town, the Ukrainian army said on Sunday (March 5th), while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the battle for Donbass a “painful and difficult”. Franceinfo returns to the highlights of the day on the front of the war in Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky calls the battle for Donbass “painful and difficult”
Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on Sunday evening about the battle his troops are waging against Russian forces in the Donbass region, where the hotly contested city of Bakhmout is located. “I would like to pay special tribute to the bravery, strength and resilience of the soldiers fighting in Donbass”said the Ukrainian president in her daily statement, adding that it was “of one of the most difficult battles. Painful and difficult.”
“Over 130 Russian attacks” in eastern Ukraine
Russian troops are continuing their efforts to encircle Bakhmout, the Ukrainian army said, claiming however to have repelled new attacks. In its daily report, the Ukrainian General Staff stated that “more than 130 enemy attacks” had been repelled in the past 24 hours in several sectors of the front, notably in Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmout and Avdiivka.
The pro-Russian separatist army of Donetsk, auxiliaries to the Russian forces, published a video purporting to show fighters from the Russian paramilitary group Wagner in the northern suburb of Bakhmout, claiming that the small railway station of Stoupky, north of the city, had been conquered. The paramilitary group assured on Friday that it had “virtually surrounded” the city.
Villages north and west of Bakhmout were attacked, Serhii Tcherevatyi, spokesman for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, confirmed on CNN on Saturday. He said that if the situation in Bakhmout was “difficult”she stayed “under control”. “The Russians might try to surround the Ukrainian forces in Bakhmout, but the Ukrainian command gave the signal that they preferred to withdraw rather than risk an encirclement”estimated Saturday the Institute for the Study of the war (ISW), a group of American experts.
Five dead in strikes against residential areas
Deadly shootings have been reported in the past 24 hours against residential areas, killing at least five people, according to Ukrainian authorities. The prosecutor’s office in Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, has announced that it is opening a war crime investigation after the death of a civilian couple in a Russian strike that hit their car on Sunday in the village of Boudarky .
Finally, the balance sheet of the strike against a residential building in Zaporijjia, in the south of the country, on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, increased to 13 dead including a child.