Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/BAKHMUT: Ukrainian forces hung onto their positions in the ruined eastern city of Bakhmut on Thursday as they came under constant attack from Russian troops seeking to claim their first significant victory for over half a year.
Russia says seizing Bakhmut would open the way to fully control the rest of the strategic Donbas industrial region bordering Russia, one of the main objectives of its invasion a year ago on February 24.
Delivering the regular morning roundup of the situation across the frontlines, the Ukraine general staff said that the enemy was continuing to advance toward Bakhmut and “is storming the city.”
It said the Ukrainian military was repelling attacks in Bakhmut and other settlements in the Donetsk region that were also under fire.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that his forces “are keeping each sector of the front under control.”
Ukraine committed to defend Bakhmut despite its ‘limited strategic value’
Ukraine said that Bakhmut has limited strategic value but nevertheless put up fierce resistance to the Russians. Not everyone in Ukraine is convinced that defending Bakhmut can go on indefinitely.
Ukrainian member of parliament Serhiy Rakhmanin said, “I believe that sooner and later, we would probably have to leave Bakhmut. There is no sense in holding it at any cost.”
Rakhmanin said, “But for the moment, Bakhmut would be defended with many aims – firstly, to inflict as several Russian losses as possible and make Russia use its ammunition and resources.”
