Russian forces pounded the city of Bakhmut, the months-old focal point of their attempts to capture the eastern Ukrainian industrial region of Donbas, and the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary force said Ukrainian troops were pouring in ahead of an “inevitable” counter-offensive, reported news agency Reuters.
The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces, in a report on Facebook, said that Russian forces had failed to advance on two villages to the northwest and at least a dozen localities came under Russian fire.
Meanwhile, spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern group of forces, Serhiy Cherevatiy, told a national television that Russian forces had attacked 324 times using artillery and multiple rocket launchers in last 24 hours. “The Russians are destroying buildings in Bakhmut to prevent our soldiers from using them as fortifications,” Cherevatiy was quoted by Reuters as saying.
The governor of the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv, Vitaliy Kim, said that one person was killed and 15 were injured after Russian missiles had hit an apartment building and a private house in the city of the same name.
Bakhmut still remains the prize sought for Russian troops. They have tried for some nine months to push their way into the largely destroyed city and have secured some central districts.
Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has spearheaded much of the advance into Bakhmut. Its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed that this month its forces controlled 80 per cent of the city.In a video message, Prigozhin, “Today, well-trained enemy units are already being thrown into Bakhmut … A counter-offensive by the Ukrainians is inevitable.”
Meanwhile, General Christopher Cavoli, Commander in the US European Command reiterated that Ukraine’s military would get the weaponry it needed in time. He cited as an example that more than 98 per cent of the combat vehicles promised to Kyiv had already been delivered.