Monitoring Desk
KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday said the situation near the east town of Bakhmut was very difficult on the front line, but Ukrainian forces were holding back Russia’s advances.
“The situation in Bakhmut is very challenging on the territory of our country,” President Zelensky told a press conference with visiting Swedish Prime Minister (PM) Ulf Kristersson.
“It is not easy for our soldiers in the east, but they do not call it fortress Bakhmut for nothing,” Zelensky said, adding that Ukrainian troops were “firmly holding” their positions.
Zelensky also singled out Vugledar town in the south of Bakhmut, which has recently seen severe fighting.
In his Tuesday evening address, Volodymyr Zelensky said the eastern front situation was “challenging.”
Fighting in Bakhmut
Bakhmut town has been at the center of months-long heavy fighting in Ukraine’s nearly year-long Russian offensive, with both warring sides suffering heavy losses.
The Swedish prime minister said his country would continue to “provide as much political support as possible” to Ukraine.
Referring to military jets that Kyiv has been urging allies to supply, Kristersson said: “We do not exclude anything right now.
“However, at the same time, we also acknowledge the need for an international coalition to take further steps,” Kristersson added.
On Wednesday, the governor of the eastern Lugansk region, which is mainly under Russian control, reported an “escalation” around the settlements of Bilogorivka and Kreminna.
Sergiy Gaidai said Russian forces were attacking in “waves” with air support.
In the eastern Pokrovsk town, strikes hit a residential building on Wednesday, killing at least one person and wounding 12 others, emergency services said.
Rescuers said at least two other people remain under the rubble.
