Ukraine and Russia claimed on Saturday that hundreds of enemy troops were killed over the previous 24 hours in the fight for Bakhmut, with Kyiv fending off unabating attacks and a small river that bisects the town now marking the new front line.
Vladyslav, a Ukrainian paratrooper of the 80 Air Assault brigade, rests inside a dugout at the frontline near Bakhmut on Friday.Serhiy Cherevatyi, a Ukrainian military spokesperson, said 221 pro-Moscow troops were killed and more than 300 wounded in Bakhmut. Russia’s defence ministry said that up to 210 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the broader Donetsk part of the frontline.
Both sides have admitted to suffering and inflicting significant losses in Bakhmut, while the exact number of casualties is difficult to independently verify. Ukrainian paratroopers of 80 Air Assault brigade rest inside a dugout at the frontline near Bakhmut on Friday.“In the city centre, the Bakhmutka River now marks the front line,” the British Defence Ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin.
“It is necessary to gain time to accumulate reserves and start a counter-offensive, which is not far off,” the military cited Colonel general Oleksandr Syrskyi as saying on Saturday.Moscow says capturing Bakhmut would punch a hole in Ukrainian defences and be a step towards seizing all of the Donbas industrial region, a major target. Kyiv says the battle is grinding down Russia’s best units.
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