Russian forces on Friday attacked northern and southern stretches of the front in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. Kyiv, however, said Moscow’s assault was flagging near Bakhmut. Heavy fighting in Ukraine, along a line running from Lyman to Kupyansk, as well as in the south at Avdiivka on the outskirts of the Russian-held city of Donetsk.
Russian forces have for months been trying to capture Bakhmut as they seek to extend their control over eastern Ukraine and fully capture Ukraine's industrialised Donbas region. While thousands of troops died in the fight on both sides, it has brought Russia scant gains.
According to news agency Reuters, at a Ukrainian artillery position behind the northern stretch of the front, troops fired 155 mm rounds from a French TRF-1 howitzer toward a highway used to supply Russian-held Kreminna.
"Luckily we are holding the same position," a soldier told Reuters. "Because we are facing a very strong enemy with very good arms. And it's a professional army: airborne troops."
As per the report, despite intense fighting, the front lines have barely budged. In the second half of 2022, Ukraine recaptured swathes of territory, however, it has remained in the defensive, while Russia attacked hundreds of thousands of freshly called-up reservists and convicts recruited from prison.
As spring approaches, the main question remains how much longer can Russia sustain its offensive, and when or whether Ukraine can reverse the momentum with a counterassault.
Ukrainian commander on Thursday said that Russia’s attack on Bakhmut, a small city which has been the centre of focus as the biggest battle amid the war, appeared to be losing steam and that Kyiv can go into an offensive “very soon”
Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for the east command defending the front farther north, told Reuters that Russia's main focus was on a stretch from Kupiansk to Lyman recaptured by Ukrainian forces last year.
"Shelling of Avdiivka does not stop - artillery, rockets, mortars," Oleksiy Dmytrashkyvskyi from Ukraine's Tavria military command, responsible for southern areas, said, as quoted by Reuters. He added that he was saddened by the conditions suffered by the mostly elderly people who did not want to leave.
In Bakhmut itself, Ukrainian troops, who weeks ago appeared likely to pull back, have instead dug in, a strategy some Western military experts say is risky given the need to conserve forces for a counterattack.
Meanwhile, on Friday, US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held a meeting in Ottawa where Trudeau reaffirmed Canada's "steadfast support for the Ukrainian people as they defend themselves against Putin's brutal and barbaric invasion".