Russians tighten siege of Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, situation is ‘extremely tense’

Russian forces stepped up their campaign to encircle the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Tuesday, where the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces described the situation as “extremely tense”.

Russian forces, including mercenary fighters from the Wagner group, are trying to cut off the Ukrainian defenders’ supply lines to the city, the scene of some of the bloodiest battles of the war, and force them to surrender or retreat.

This would give Russia its first major gain in more than six months and pave the way for the capture of the last remaining urban centers in the Donetsk region, which Moscow says it has annexed along with three other Ukrainian regions.

“Despite significant losses, the enemy has thrown the most prepared Wagner units, which are trying to break through the defenses of our troops and encircle the city,” Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi of Ukraine said on a military messaging platform.

Russia’s RIA news agency has released a video it says shows Russian Su-25 fighter jets flying over Bakhmut. “We’re glad they’re ours,” said a man in the clip identified as a Wagner fighter, adding that the jets had helped them “psychologically.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who described Bakhmut as “our fortress” that must be defended to the last, said in his nightly radio address that Russian forces are “constantly destroying anything that can be used to protect our positions of fortification and defense”.

The Ukrainian military said Russia was also shelling settlements around Bakhmut, which had a pre-war population of about 70,000 but now lies in ruins after months of intense trench warfare.

“Over the past day, our soldiers repelled more than 60 enemy attacks,” the military said yesterday, referring to Bakhmut and nearby areas to the east, adding that Ukrainian forces repelled Russian attacks on the villages of Yadhidne and Berkhivka , in the northern vicinity of Bakhmut.

Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said Russian forces had opened a barrier between these villages.

“The southern part of Bakhmut is the only area that can be described as under Ukrainian control. In all other districts the situation is unpredictable… It is impossible to tell where the front line is,” he said in a video commentary .

YELLEN IN KIEV

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen became the latest senior Western official to visit the Ukrainian capital, pledging assistance and further measures to isolate Russia after meetings with Zelenskiy and other officials.

His boss, US President Joe Biden, was there a week ago to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“America will stay with Ukraine as long as it needs to,” Yellen told Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Monday.

Source: Terra

Rose

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