Russia said its forces advanced on Bakhmut, while a senior Ukrainian commander said his troops were holding the front line in the nearly destroyed city in some of the bloodiest fighting in the 14-month war.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces had secured two blocks in the western districts and that airborne units were providing reinforcements to the north and south. Russia sees Bakhmut as an impetus for further advances in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi shared footage on the messaging app Telegram of him examining a map with three other men in uniform, with the caption “Bakhmut frontline. Our defense continues.”
“We hit the enemy, often unexpectedly, and continued to hold strategic lines,” he wrote. The report was unable to verify reports from the battlefield.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Russia’s private Wagner military force, which is leading the assault on Bakhmut, has claimed 80% control of the city. Kiev has repeatedly denied allegations that its troops are about to withdraw.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to continue defending the city.
“It’s impossible for us to give up Bakhmut because that (will help) expand the battlefront and give Russian forces and Wagner chances to take more of our lands,” Zelensky said in an interview with Al Arabiya news channel.
On Sunday, the Russian-installed chief of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region denied a report by a US institution that Ukrainian forces had taken up positions on the east bank of the Dnipro River.
“There is no enemy foothold on the left (east) bank of the Dnipro River… our military completely controls this territory,” wrote Vladimir Saldo on his Telegram channel.
Citing Russian military bloggers embedded with Moscow forces, the Institute for the Study of War said Ukraine had “established positions” on the eastern bank, although it was not clear “on what scale or with what intentions”.
Natalia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s southern command, neither confirmed nor denied the report, which she told Ukrainian television foreshadowed “very powerful bombing” in districts around the west bank towns of Kherson and Beryslav.
“Reacting to this information, the enemy significantly intensified its attacks on the opposite bank,” he said. Civilians were injured and about 30 buildings were destroyed, including a school, she said.
(Reporting by Jake Cordell, Dan Peleschuk, Nick Starkov, Elaine Monaghan and Lidia Kelly)
Source: CNN Brasil
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