Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
Russia and Ukraine
The Ukrainian president’s remarks came just hours following the Ukrainian military leadership announced that Russian forces were advancing near the main city of Bakhmut in the east of the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech on Wednesday evening that Ukrainian forces control all sectors of the front.
His speech came just hours following the Ukrainian military leadership announced that Russian forces were advancing near the main city of Bakhmut in the east of the country, which is being targeted by pro-Moscow forces with massive attacks.
Russian forces launched relentless assaults on Bakhmut on Wednesday, trying to encircle the small city in eastern Ukraine and claim their first major victory in more than six months following some of the bloodiest battles of the war.
Destruction in the middle of Bakhmut due to fighting
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine wrote in a post on Facebook on Wednesday evening: “The enemy continues to advance. The attack on the city of Pakhmut continues.”
For his part, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the private military group Wagner, said that the Ukrainians are showing “valiant resistance” in their attempt to hold on to the city at any cost.
The area around Bakhmut is one of the areas on the front where Russia made clear gains during a winter offensive that saw what both sides described as the bloodiest fighting of the war.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner Group led the Russian offensive in Bakhmut, said in an audio message on social media that the Ukrainian army was throwing more reservists into the battle, “trying to hold on to the city with all its might.”
Prigozhin added, “Tens of thousands of Ukrainian army fighters are showing valiant resistance. The battles are getting bloodier day by day.”
Ukrainian army on the battle fronts in Bakhmut
After being expelled from some territories in the second half of 2022, the Russian forces have received reinforcements with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of reservists who have been called up since September.
Kiev, for its part, has stuck to the defense for the past three months, hoping the fighting will exhaust the attacking Russian forces before Ukraine launches a counter-offensive this year with new weapons, including tanks promised by the West.
Russia says control of Bakhmut would open the way to control of the rest of the industrial Donbass region surrounding Bakhmut, one of the war’s main goals. For its part, Kiev says that the destroyed city has limited strategic value, but the losses were so heavy that it would affect the future course of the war.
