Ukraine said today that its troops are “managing to stabilize” the situation around Bakhmut, a town in the east of the country that is currently the epicenter of fighting with Russian forces.
In that city, which had about 70,000 inhabitants before the war, the longest battle since the start of the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in February last year is taking place.
The situation at the front is “very tough in the Bakhmuth direction,” Ukrainian armed forces chief Valery Zaluzhny said in a telephone conversation with UK Defense Chief of Staff Admiral Tony Radakin.
“Thanks to the enormous efforts of the defense forces, we are managing to stabilize the situation,” Zaluzhny said on Facebook and was reproduced by the AFP news agency.
In recent months, Russian forces have proclaimed advances and conquests around the city, which has become a symbol due to persistent fighting.
According to the report released today by the British Ministry of Defense, Russia’s assault on Bakhmut “is very much at a standstill.”
“This is mainly due to the extreme attrition of the Russian forces,” according to the statement, adding that Ukraine also recorded “numerous casualties.”
According to British military intelligence, Russia now appears to be focusing on two positions: Avdiivka, about 50 kilometers south of the city, and the Kremina-Svatove sector, also about 50 kilometers, but to the north, where “Moscow aspires to to stabilize its front” of combat.
Taken together, everything seems to indicate that the Russian forces have returned to “a more defensive operating model” after the “inconclusive results of their attempts to launch a general offensive” since January this year, British sources were quoted as saying by the Europa Press news agency. .
For his part, Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrsky said on Thursday that they would soon launch a counteroffensive against “exhausted” Russian forces near Bakhmut.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the front line near the city in the middle of the week.
For his part, the head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, assured on Monday that his forces control around 70% of the city.
Source: Ambito
