Ukraine faced relentless Russian attacks on Bakhmut in its eastern Donetsk region, with both sides reporting mounting enemy casualties as they battled across a small river that bisects the ruined town that marks the front line.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy late on Sunday said that his forces had killed more than 1,100 Russian soldiers in the past few days as they battled for control of Bakhmut.
“In less than a week, starting from the 6th March, we managed to kill more than 1,100 enemy soldiers in the Bakhmut sector alone, Russia’s irreversible loss, right there, near Bakhmut,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
Photo: Reuters
Russian forces also sustained 1,500 “sanitary losses,” soldiers wounded badly enough to keep them out of action, Zelenskiy said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense earlier in the day said that its forces had killed more than 220 Ukrainian service members over the past 24 hours in the Donetsk region.
Reuters could not independently verify battlefield reports, and neither side gave details of their own casualties.
Ukraine forces control west of the nearly deserted mining town of Bakhmut, while Russia’s Wagner mercenary group controls most of the eastern part, with the Bakhmutka River that flows through the town marking the front line, British intelligence said.
Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said the situation in Bakhmut was “tough, very tough.”
“The closer we are to the center of the city, the harder the fighting... The Ukrainians throw in endless reserves, but we are advancing and we will be advancing,” Prigozhin said in an audio statement.
He also said members of the Russian army helped his troops with ammunition.
“Yesterday, we got 15 truckloads, today we got 12. And I think we will continue to receive them,” he said, adding there was no conflict between his fighters and Russian troops.
Prigozhin had previously complained that Russia’s top brass was deliberately starving his men of ammunition, an allegation the Russian defense ministry rejected.
Prigozhin said Wagner “will begin to reboot” and start hiring once Bakhmut is captured. His army has already opened recruitment centers across 42 cities to replenish its ranks.
Ukraine has stayed to fight on in Bakhmut, after initial signs it was planning to withdraw, to grind down Russia’s best units ahead of a spring counteroffensive.
Analysts expect a Ukrainian counteroffensive to begin in earnest over next month and in May when the weather improves and more military aid arrives, including heavy Leopard and Challenger tanks.
Western tanks would significantly change war tactics, said Leonid Khoda, a seasoned Ukrainian tank brigade commander who received the Hero of Ukraine award less than a month after Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“Everyone is waiting, 1st Tank Brigade is waiting, too. Not long ago we sent personnel to learn to operate [Leopard] 2A6,” said Khoda, who commands the Ukrainian 1st Siversk Tank Brigade which is fighting in the south of Donetsk.
Russian shelling killed three civilians who were on their way to buy groceries in the southern city of Kherson on Saturday, Zelenskiy said, denouncing what he called “brutal terrorist attacks” by pro-Moscow units.
Russia has denied targeting civilians.
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