Ukraine reported on Tuesday an “extremely tense” situation around Bakhmout, at the epicenter of fighting in the east of the country, where Russian troops are trying to encircle the city. In Russia, the army for its part reported having shot down several Ukrainian drones which targeted civilian infrastructure, without causing any damage. For the first time, one of them crashed in the Moscow region.
In the evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his daily address, said that “the greatest difficulties, as before, are in Bakhmout (…) Russia does not count its men at all, constantly sending them to attack our positions. The intensity of the fighting is only increasing.”
Despite a strategic importance disputed by experts, Bakhmout has become a symbol of the struggle for control of the industrial region of Donbass. Zelensky, who went there in December, had sworn to defend this fortress city “as long as possible”.
