Ukraine on Tuesday said that it had pushed Russian forces from the flanks of Bakhmut, but conceded that Moscow’s forces were pushing deeper inside the embattled town.
The announcement came as European leaders meeting in Iceland agreed to create a “register of damages” to record the wartime harm and destruction wrought by Russia in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said.
It would be an initial step toward prosecution of Russian leaders.
Photo: AP
A year after kicking Russia out of the Council of Europe over its war in Ukraine, the leaders of the 46-nation pan-continental rights body gathered in Reykjavik, with the Ukraine conflict topping the agenda.
In Kyiv, authorities were due to host a Chinese special envoy to discuss Beijing’s proposals for ending the conflict.
Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Ganna Malyar said Ukraine had wrested back about 20km2 of a Russian pincer movement around Bakhmut, the epicenter of fighting in Russia’s invasion.
“At the same time, the enemy is advancing in some measure inside Bakhmut itself and is completely destroying the town with artillery,” she added on social media.
The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, had earlier said he visited forces near Bakhmut to hand out awards to Kyiv’s troops fighting in the longest battle of the invasion.
“Wagner’s men went into Bakhmut like rats into a mousetrap,” he said, referring to the Russian paramilitary group.
The British Ministry of Defence said that “over the last four days, Ukrainian forces have made tactical progress, stabilizing the flanks of Bakhmut to their advantage.”
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video shared by Russian military bloggers on Tuesday that a US volunteer had died fighting alongside Ukrainian troops in the east.
“He came to meet us. Citizen of the United States of America,” he says, showing what he claims is the body of an American.
It was not clear where or when the video was filmed
The wave of Russian strikes overnight came just over a week after Kyiv announced it had shot down a Kinzhal nuclear-capable hypersonic missile for the first time, using US-supplied Patriot systems.
Russia denied Kyiv’s latest claim to have shot down six of the hypersonic missiles during an overnight barrage.
Ukraine’s mounting success in taking out dozens of Russian drones and missiles illustrates its bolstered air defenses, after a winter in which Moscow pummeled key infrastructure.
“Another unbelievable success for the Ukrainian air forces!” Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov wrote on Twitter.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said Ukrainian air-defense systems had knocked out a total of 18 missiles, including types the Kremlin had touted as “ideal,” as well as nine drones.
Reznikov later tweeted that Ukraine has officially joined the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence.
He called it “another step toward common security space in Europe, which is impossible without Ukraine’s membership in the alliance.”
Three people were injured in Kyiv and some rocket fragments fell on the capital’s zoo, but neither staff nor animals were hurt, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Meanwhile, Russia said all its targets had been hit.
China’s special envoy, Li Hui (李輝), was expected to arrive in Kyiv for a two-day visit as part of a European tour to promote Beijing-led negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
A senior Ukrainian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Ukrainian authorities planned to further discuss Kyiv’s stance on the conflict and China’s peace mission.
He told reporters that Ukrainian officials would make clear to Beijing that “ending the war with a compromise at the expense of Ukraine will not work.”
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