Ukraine on Friday claimed to have rounded Bachmout two kilometers, which Moscow denied.
The Ukrainian army announced this Saturday to “advance” Bakhmout, the epicenter of fighting with Russian troops in eastern Ukraine, while Moscow pledged to continue its advance in the city, which is already mostly under its control and is now largely destroyed .
“The defensive operation towards Bachmout continues. Our soldiers are advancing in some areas of the front and the enemy is losing equipment and troops,” commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces Oleksandre Syrsky told Telegram.
According to Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar, “the situation in the Bakhmout area is developing in a ‘dynamic’ way” and Ukrainian troops are “gradually advancing in two directions in the suburbs” of this city devastated by months of fighting.
On Friday, Ukraine said it had advanced two kilometers around Bakhmout, which Moscow denied.
The longest battle since the beginning of the war
On Saturday, Russia’s Defense Ministry did not comment on Ukraine’s claims, but said in a statement that “assault units liberated a neighborhood in the northwestern part of the city of Artemovsk,” the Russian name for Bakhmout.
“The situation in the city itself is more complicated,” Ganna Maliar admitted on Telegram, claiming that “the enemy is unable to take control” of Bakhmout.
The battle for this Donbass city is the bloodiest and longest since the Russian invasion began on February 24, 2022.
Observers question the strategic importance of Russia’s capture of this city, but it would allow Moscow victory after several humiliating setbacks.
For its part, Kiev assumes that it wants to tire the Russian army as much as possible by stationing it in this area of the Donbass before launching an offensive to retake the occupied areas in the east and south of the country, preparing for the noisy Ukrainian officials “reaching their end”.