Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/KYIV: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the situation in Bakhmut was worsening amidst reports of Russian advancement on the eastern frontline of the embattled country.
Russian forces have been attempting to take over Bakhmut, the last remaining urban centres in Donetsk region. Russian forces pressed their offensive in an attempt to encircle Bakhmut, which has turned into the toughest battlefields in the latest fighting, saturated by rain and an early spring thaw.
According to Zelensky, the enemy was constantly destroying everything that could be used to defend their positions.
According to media reports, some of the fiercest fightings since Russia invaded Ukraine over a year ago is under way in Bakhmut. Russian forces’ attempt to capture the industrial city has recently intensified, with their troops gaining ground.
The separatist leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, said “practically all roads” in Bakhmut were “under [Russian] fire control”.
In his nightly address, President Zelensky said that gaining a foothold in Bakhmut and ensuring its defence were being severely jeopardised by Russia’s latest onslaught. He expressed gratitude to “everyone who is courageously holding” the area. Zelensky also sought from allies modern combat aircraft to be sent to the area so that the entire region of his country could be defended from “Russian terror”.
According to Reuters, Russia was trying to cut the Ukrainian defenders’ vulnerable supply lines into Bakhmut and force Ukrainian forces to surrender or withdraw. It would also give Moscow its first a major win in more than half a year and open the way to capture the last remaining urban centres in Donetsk region.
