Ukraine Advances To The 'Heart Of Battles' Bakhmut, Russia Claims It Repelled New Attacks
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a video message on Monday thanked Ukrainian fighters for delivering "the news we are expecting" in the Bakhmut direction.
Ukrainian forces have advanced to Bakhmut, an area which has been at the heart of fierce fighting between Russia and Ukraine for months. While the place has little strategic value it is important symbolically both for Kyiv and Moscow. According to the BBC, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar, described the eastern city as the "epicentre of hostilities". She, however, did not say whether a long-awaited counter-offensive had begun. Meanwhile, Russia has claimed that it has repelled a new attack in the eastern Donetsk region on Monday.
In the early hours of Tuesday, air raid sirens were activated all over Ukraine, as Russia launched a new wave of overnight air strikes on Kyiv, reporting that air defence was in operation in the capital region.
Maliar in a social media post stated that "despite stiff resistance and the enemy's attempts to hold their positions, our military units advanced in several directions during the fighting".
She said in the villages Orikhovo-Vasulivka and Paraskoviivka, Ukrainian troops gained from 200m to 1,600m (656-5,250ft), while in Ivanivske and Klishchiivka they advanced between 100m and 700m (330-2,300). The villages are within several kilometres of Bakhmut, the battle for the city in the Donetsk region has been the longest and bloodiest of the war, reported BBC.
Meanwhile President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a video message on Monday thanked Ukrainian fighters for delivering "the news we are expecting" in the Bakhmut direction.
"The enemy knows that Ukraine will win," he said.
However, the BBC reported that Russia claimed late last month to have captured Bakhmut following what had become the war’s longest and bloodiest battle, but Ukraine has insisted its forces retained a small foothold and denied that Moscow was in full control of the city.
On Monday, the Russian defence ministry said that a new attack by Ukrainian forces in Donetsk had been repelled. In a statement quoted by state-run media, it said the attacking side suffered heavy casualties, and that 28 tanks - including eight German-made Leopards - were destroyed. This has not been verified by the BBC. Wagner boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin publicly mocked the Russian defence ministry, describing its statement as "wild fantasy".
According to the news outlet, this comes a day after Moscow said a “large-scale offensive” from Ukraine in the Donetsk region had begun on Sunday but was unsuccessful. However, the Ukrainian military said it had no information of any such attacks.
"We do not have such information and we do not comment on any kind of fake," a Ukrainian army spokesperson told Reuters.
Ukraine has been planning such a move for months. But it has wanted as much time as possible to train troops and to receive military equipment from Western allies.
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