KYIV (Reuters) – Ukrainian forces have repelled fresh Russian assaults towards central Bakhmout, a senior Ukrainian general said on Tuesday.
“The enemy’s assault groups are trying to advance from the outskirts to the center of the city, but our defense forces are destroying them 24/7,” wrote Oleksandr Syrsky, the commander of the forces. Ukrainian ground forces, on the Telegram messaging app.
He added that the fighting was intense along the eastern front line.
Reuters could not independently verify the situation there.
Russia has made capturing Bakhmut a priority in its campaign to control the entire industrial Donbass region, made up of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in eastern Ukraine.
The battle for this small town in the Donetsk region, which has been going on for months, has become one of the bloodiest in Moscow’s war in Ukraine for almost 13 months.
If Russian forces capture the city, it will be Russia’s first significant territorial gain since last summer, although many observers believe the goal is primarily symbolic.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said no one thought Bakhmut would resist such intense attacks for so long.
“The Bakhmout defense is holding firm and the possibilities are not exhausted yet,” she said.
(Report Olena Harmash, French version Nathan Vifflin, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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