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KIEV, UKRAINE (AP) — Russian forces have made progress in a campaign to capture the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, the focus of the war’s longest ground battle.but their attacks would be difficult to sustain without more significant personnel losses, British military officials said Saturday.
The UK Defense Ministry said in its latest assessment that paramilitary forces of the Kremlin-controlled Wagner Group had captured much of eastern Bahmut.the river flowing through the city marks the front line of battle.
The mining city is located in Donetsk Oblast, one of four Ukrainian regions illegally annexed by Russian President Vladimir Putin last year.Russian forces launched an operation to overtake Bakhmut in his August, with both sides suffering staggering casualties.
Ukrainian forces and supply lines remain vulnerable to “continuous Russian attempts to outflank the defenders from the north and south” as Wagner Group forces try to approach them with pincer fire, it said. the UK Foreign Office said.
However, the ministry said Wagner’s death was due to Ukrainian destruction of the main bridge over the river and Ukrainian sniper fire from fortified buildings to the west creating a narrow strip of clearing in the city center. It added that it would be “very difficult” for the soldiers to advance. “Killing Zone”.
Russian military bloggers and other pro-Kremlin telegram accounts claimed on Friday that Russian troops had broken into a metalworking plant northwest of Bakhmut. The War Research Institute, a Washington-based think tank, also referenced footage that the Russian military located location data showing him to be within 800 meters of his AZOM plant.
In an assessment Friday night, the Institute said Moscow is clearly focused on capturing plants, rather than opting for a “broader siege of western Bakhmut” to try to take nearby villages, so Russia reported that it was likely to result in a further wave of casualties.
Ukrainian ground forces announced their intention to hold out in Bakhmut on Saturday, with top officer Colonel Oleksandr Shirsky personally overseeing “the most important branch of the front” on Facebook, which Moscow has been waiting for. announced that he was denying victory on the battlefield.
“My army stands. This is our fortress. I can’t even imagine.”
Citing Syrskyi, he said the alleys and territory around Bakhmut were “strewn with the bodies of Russians and ‘Wagnerians’.”
Elsewhere in Ukraine, repair work continued on Saturday Two days ago, a massive Russian missile and drone strike killed six people and left hundreds of thousands without heating and electricity.
Ukraine’s state-owned power grid operator said four provinces continued to face power supply problems after a barrage of 80 Russian-made missiles. A small number of drones exploded, hitting homes and critical infrastructure across the country.
Uklenergo said in a Facebook post that parts of the Kharkiv and Zhytomyr, Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv regions were experiencing rolling blackouts. The company added that the situation in Zhytomyr was particularly difficult, with some customers still not receiving power.
The Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that Russia launched 34 strikes from multiple rocket launchers in different parts of the country on Saturday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said three of his people “just went to the store to buy groceries” died in Kherson Oblast, southern Ukraine.
At least five people were killed and another 19 wounded in Kherson and Donetsk provinces from Friday morning through Saturday morning, Ukrainian officials said.
Donetsk, where Bakhmut is located, has been the epicenter of fighting in recent months, and the Ukrainian-held part of Kherson sees daily artillery fire from Russian troops stationed across the Dnieper.
The Ukrainian military said Russian forces carried out 12 airstrikes and two missile strikes on Saturday against the city of Zaporizhia, capital of the southeastern Ukraine province of the same name. S-300 missile strikes hit civilian infrastructure, but no casualties were reported.
Norwegian Defense Minister and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov welcomed his Norwegian counterparts in Kiev on Saturday. announced Norway’s decision to allocate $7.5 billion in
According to meeting materials released by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, Gram said the weapons planned to be sent by Norway included missile launchers and ammunition for NASAMS anti-aircraft systems.
Reznikov said the Ukrainian military has successfully used some of the same weapons to shoot down the drones and missiles that Russia rained on Ukraine on Thursday.
“Every 10 uses of the NASAMS system (…) means shooting down 10 invader missiles, saving 10 buildings and infrastructure installations, and hundreds of lives. is certain,’ he said.___
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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