The government of Ukraine confirmed this Friday a two-kilometer advance in the area of the front line in Bakhmut after Ukrainian and Russian military sources released various information in recent days.
“Our fighters advanced two kilometers in the Bakhmut area,” Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Anna Malyar said in a message posted on the Telegram social network, cited by the Spanish agency EFE.
According to Malyar, “the enemy failed to carry out their plans” and “suffered huge losses.”
The Ukrainian deputy minister said that the Kyiv forces “have not lost a single position in Bakhmut this week.”
The battle for Bakhmut, a ruined city 80 percent controlled by Russian troops, was the longest and deadliest since the Russian invasion began on February 24, 2022.
The city of Donetsk region (east) before the war had about 70 thousand inhabitants.
Malyar’s remarks came after another senior Ukrainian military official said on Wednesday that Russian troops had retreated from some areas near Bakhmut following counterattacks by Kyiv forces.
On Thursday night, Russia denied any retreat of its defenses as a result of the actions of Ukrainian forces.
Widespread statements about “defensive advances that allegedly took place in various parts of the line of contact are not true,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement quoted by the French AFP news agency.
The ministry did not mention reports of Russian troops retreating near Bakhmut, saying only that “assault units continue to liberate the western part” of the city, where the last pockets of Ukrainian resistance are located.
The head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is leading the ground attack on Bakhmut, recently complained about the lack of ammunition and threatened to leave if he did not receive additional support from Moscow.
Prigozhin’s criticism has fueled doubts about the potential of Russian troops in terms of supplying ammunition and their ability to overcome the defensive lines of Ukraine.
The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said today in its daily analysis of the conflict that Kyiv “probably broke through some of the Russian positions in counterattacks near Bakhmut.”
The Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine also accused Russia of providing “false information” about the situation of Ukrainian troops in order to justify the real situation, according to the Spanish agency Europa Press.
He also noted that during the week, information about the battles for the city continued to be the main topic in Russian social networks and the media.
“Analysis of messages shows that this city is of great importance for the enemy. It is practically sacred,” Ukrainian news agency quoted Malyar as saying.
Information about the course of the war released by both sides cannot be immediately verified independently of each other.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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