KYIV: Ukraine said its forces were “managing to stabilize” the situation around Bakhmut, a now-destroyed city in eastern Ukraine that has seen the longest battle of Russia’s invasion.
Bakhmut city — which once had an estimated population of about 70,000 people — has been virtually emptied of civilians after fierce fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops.
The situation at the frontline is “the toughest in the Bakhmut city direction,” the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, Valery Zaluzhny, said late on Friday after a phone call with UK’s Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin.
“Due to the huge efforts of the Defence Forces, we are managing to stabilize the situation in Bakhmut,” Zaluzhny said on Facebook.
Russian troops have been posting painstakingly incremental gains around the Bakhmut city, whose symbolic significance surpassed any military significance as the fierce battle dragged on.
Russia’s assault on Bakhmut
According to the latest intelligence update of the British defence ministry on Saturday, Russia’s assault on Bakhmut city “has largely stalled.”
“This is likely mainly a result of extreme attrition of the Russian forces,” the British statement read, adding that Ukraine had also “suffered heavy casualties” in the battle.
Senior Ukrainian military commander Oleksandr Syrsky said on Thursday that a counter-attack could be launched soon against “exhausted” Russian troops near Bakhmut.
Syrsky’s statement came a day after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky announced he had visited Ukrainian troops near the Bakhmut frontline on Wednesday.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, said Monday that his forces controlled around 70 percent of the city.
