Intense fighting in the corridor between Lisychansk and Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, according to authorities
Fighting in eastern Ukraine continues to be concentrated in the Bakhmut area of Donetsk, according to Ukrainian officials.
Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk regional military administration, told Ukrainian television that “the Donetsk sector is the most difficult, as the Russians are trying to capture Bakhmut, and all settlements from Lisychansk to Bakhmut are important to them.”
Lisychansk is located in the neighboring Luhansk region and was captured by Russian forces in June.
Hayday said the Ukrainian military had destroyed a “large number of the occupiers’ personnel and their equipment” in the town of Bilohorivka.
“Now they are trying to break through the defense line, as they plan to make an additional bridgehead to expand the offensive. There are round-the-clock attacks there, this territory is constantly being shelled. Six people remain in the village; they are it deals with elderly people who don’t want to leave. It’s hard to get people out who don’t want to leave,” the officer said.
In the midst of difficult weather conditions, Hayday stated that the “liberation of the Luhansk region is very difficult. However, there is something positive. Our troops are not far from Kreminna”, a town located north of Lisychansk and occupied since spring. .
Meanwhile, Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration, said that following the Russian missile attacks on parts of Donetsk on Monday, “emergency power cuts continue. Electrical engineers are powering the system with power sources. reserve. In general, the situation is stable. After the emergency cuts, the generators are turned on.”
He said the situation around Bakhmut “is extremely tense.”
“The enemy’s claims that Bakhmut is taken and that they are on the outskirts of the city are not true,” he said. “Most of the people have evacuated Bakhmut. There are now regarding 12,000 residents in Bakhmut from 81,000 before the invasion. The enemy is trying to destroy the civilian population.”
The Ukrainian army said the center of Bakhmut was hit, and an administrative building, a dormitory and a residential building were damaged.
Kyrylenko said that the Russians also shelled the city of Vuhledar, as well as Kurakhove and Hostre, a kindergarten, four skyscrapers and seven private houses were damaged.