Ukrainian commanders say they are holding on to Bakhmut amid fierce assaults on the eastern city
Russian forces continue to press their offensive in the Bakhmut area of eastern Ukraine but have taken little additional territory in the past 24 hours, geotagged videos and frontline accounts suggest.
“We have dampened the enemy a bit,” a soldier from the 93rd Brigade said, according to video comments released by the Ukrainian Land Forces. “It’s a bit calmer, but there’s still shooting on the outskirts. There are isolated explosions, shells are flying. But we’re staying in Bakhmut. No one is going to withdraw yet.”
Colonel Yurii Madyar, commander of the 28th Brigade, said in a video message on Telegram that “Bakhmut is holding out” but that the price of holding the city “is getting harder to do so.”
“The enemy has been relentless during the last day in the first place with the intention of destroying this city, destroying as much of the life that remains here as possible, and at any cost securing the bypass of the city of Bakhmut on the flanks to encircle it and block the routes of military movement and delivery of necessary supplies,” Madyar said.
He added that there was small arms fighting north of Bakhmut, and there was “street fighting in the suburbs along the eastern, northern and southern, and west-south outskirts.”
Ukrainian units “are holding the northern flank to prevent the enemy from encircling Bakhmut,” Madyar said.
“We have stopped the enemy in this area for a long time and we have not allowed their propaganda to shout to the whole world regarding their great offensive successes in this area,” he said.
As the ground softens in the spring, Madyar said he foresees the enemy will not be able to “carry out any quick operations.”
Oleksii Reva, head of the military administration of the city of Bakhmut, said heavy fighting continued in the city. “It’s painful to see what the enemy shells are doing to the city,” he said on Facebook.
“It is extremely dangerous in Bakhmut,” Reva said. “The enemy is ruthlessly destroying the city, injuring and killing civilians. To date, the Russians have destroyed more than 4,400 residential buildings.”
The army General Staff said that while “the enemy continues to advance in the Bakhmut sector”, attacks on settlements west of Bakhmut – Khromove, Ivanivske, Orikhovo-Vasylivka and Chasiv Yar – have been repelled.
