Russians Step Up Assault On Ukraine's Bakhmut In Quest For Breakthrough: Top Points

A Russian takeover of Bakhmut would be Moscow's first big victory in more than half a year and pave the way for the capture of the Donetsk region's last surviving urban centres.

A tank drives by one of the main streets in Kostiantynivka, a few kilometres from Bakhmut city

Source : Getty

New Delhi: In their quest for a breakthrough in the year-long conflict, Russian forces carried out continuous attacks on the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut making the situation "extremely tense," news agency Reuters reported.

A Russian takeover of Bakhmut would be Moscow's first big victory in more than half a year and pave the way for the capture of the Donetsk region's last surviving urban centres.

According to a statement by the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ukrainian aircraft launched three strikes on areas of concentration of Russian forces on Tuesday night.

"Despite significant losses, the enemy threw in the most prepared assault units of Wagner, who are trying to break through the defences of our troops and surround the city," Ukraine's Colonel general Oleksandr Syrskyi was quoted as saying on a military messaging platform on Tuesday.

Here are the top points-

• In his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, "The most difficult part, as before, is Bakhmut and the fighting that is essential for the city's defence." "Russia in general takes no account of people and sends them in constant waves against our positions, the intensity of the fighting is only increasing," Zelenskiy said.
  
  
• The town of Bakhmut had a pre-war population of about 70,000 people, but it has been devastated by months of combat as a focal point of Russian attacks and determined Ukrainian defence.
  
  
• The Russian state-run news agency RIA released a video clip showing Russian Su-25 fighter planes roaring above Bakhmut.
  
  
• "We are glad they are ours," says a man in the clip identified as a fighter of the mercenary Wagner Group, adding the jets helped them "psychologically," according to Reuters.
  
  
• According to the Guardian, the Russian army and Wagner have been making incremental gains in the area. In January, they took the nearby town of Soledar. So far, they have been unable to capture the ruined centre of Bakhmut, despite multiple attempts.
  
  
• Earlier, Ukraine's military stated that Russia had increased its soldiers in the Bakhmut area and was shelling settlements around the city.
  
  
• While most of the Russian attacks were focused on Bakhmut and other towns and villages in Donetsk, the military statement said Russian forces shelled more than 20 settlements in northern regions near the Russian border: Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv.
  
  
• Meanwhile, Ukraine had earlier sought weaponry to protect itself from waves of Russian missile and drone attacks that in the depths of winter damaged the power grid and other infrastructure, killed hundreds of civilians and left millions with no electricity or water.

(With agency inputs)