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Ukraine admitted today that the situation around the besieged city of Bakhmut is “extremely tense” as Vladimir Putin’s forces intensified their assault in a bid to encircle Ukrainian troops there.
Russia is trying to cut off the supply lines of the Ukrainian defenders to the city, the scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the war, and force them to surrender or withdraw.
This would give Putin his first major victory in the war in more than half a year and pave the way for his capture of the last remaining urban centers in the Donetsk region.
“Despite significant losses, the enemy launched the most prepared Wagner assault units, which are trying to break through the defenses of our troops and encircle the city,” Ukrainian Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said on a military messaging platform. .
Ukraine’s military said earlier that Russia had strengthened its forces in the Bakhmut area and was shelling settlements around the city.
Ukrainian servicemen are seen near an automatic grenade launcher at their positions, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in the town of Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine.
A Ukrainian serviceman walks down an empty street, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in the frontline town of Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on February 25.
Ukrainian service members are seen next to an infantry fighting vehicle near the town of Bakhmut, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine.
“During the last day, our soldiers repelled more than 60 enemy attacks,” the army said Tuesday morning, referring to Bakhmut and nearby eastern areas, adding that Ukrainian forces repelled Russian attacks on the villages of Yadhidne and Berkhivka. , in the northern approaches to Bakhmut.
Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said Russian forces had driven a gap between those villages as they tried to cut off the road west to Chasiv Yar.
‘The southern part of Bakhmut is the only area that can be described as under Ukrainian control. In all other districts, the situation is unpredictable,” he said in a video commentary, adding: “It is impossible to say where the front line is.”
Yesterday, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenksy, said that the situation in Bakhmut is “getting more and more complicated.”
“The enemy is constantly destroying everything that can be used to protect our positions,” he said, calling the Ukrainian soldiers fighting for Bakhmut “true heroes.”
Taking Bakhmut would be a major victory for Moscow, but analysts say its capture would be largely symbolic as the salt mining town has little strategic value.
Ukrainian service members ride inside an infantry fighting vehicle near the frontline town of Bakhmut.
A Ukrainian serviceman looks through a broken window of a damaged residential building as the sounds of shelling continue in Bakhmut on February 27.
This photograph taken on February 27 shows a residential building destroyed and burned as remote shelling continues in Bakhmut, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian soldiers in the Donetsk region entrenched themselves in muddy trenches after warmer weather thawed the frozen ground.
‘Both sides stay put, because as you see, spring means mud. Therefore, it is impossible to move forward,” said Mykola, 59, a commander of a Ukrainian frontline rocket launcher battery, looking at a tablet screen for the coordinates to fire.
The spring thaw, known as rasputitsa, has a history of ruining armies’ plans to attack Ukraine and western Russia, turning roads into rivers and fields into quagmire.
Reuters saw several military vehicles stuck in the mud. In a zigzag trench, Volodymyr, a 25-year-old platoon commander, said his men were prepared to operate in any weather.
‘When we are given a target, that means we have to destroy it.’
Russia, with its forces resupplied with hundreds of thousands of conscripts, has intensified its attacks along the eastern front, but its attacks have come at a high cost, say Ukraine and its allies.
Fierce battles are taking place there. The command is doing everything possible to prevent the enemy from advancing through our territory,” Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesman for the Eastern Ukrainian military command, told Ukrainian television.
Russia said its forces destroyed a Ukrainian ammunition depot near Bakhmut and shot down US-made rockets and Ukrainian drones. Reuters was unable to verify the reports from the battlefield.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the United States was planning a provocation in Ukraine using toxic chemicals. There was no immediate response from the United States.
Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen became the latest senior Western official to visit the Ukrainian capital, pledging assistance and further measures to isolate Russia after meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other officials. .
His boss, President Joe Biden, went there a week ago to mark the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“The United States will support Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Yellen, flanked by sandbags in the cabinet office, told Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
A Ukrainian serviceman from a fire platoon stands in a trench near the front line, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on February 27.
An MLRS, Multiple Launch Rocket System, based on the BM-21 “Grad”, fires a rocket, near the front line, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on February 27. .
Yellen announced the transfer of the first $1.25 billion of the final tranche of $9.9 billion in US economic and budget assistance and visited a school where teacher salaries are reimbursed with US support.
He also backed the completion of a fully funded program for Ukraine with the International Monetary Fund by the end of March.
Ukraine’s forces have focused mainly on holding defensive positions in recent weeks, but are expected to attempt a counteroffensive later this year with new weapons from the West.
Zelenskiy pushed again for F-16 fighter jets that his Western allies have been reluctant to provide.
“We will be able to fully protect our skies when the aviation taboo is completely removed in relations with our partners,” Zelenskiy said in his late-night radio address.
The first anniversary of the invasion of Russia saw both sides trying to show resolve for a second year of war.
Putin gave a speech in which he abandoned the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty with the United States, but did not announce major moves to turn the tide of the war.
He was overshadowed by Biden, who traveled to kyiv and delivered his own landmark speech in Warsaw.
Outnumbered Ukrainian troops repelled a Russian attack aimed at taking the capital early in the war and later recaptured a substantial part of the territory. Russia still occupies almost a fifth of the Ukraine, which it claims to have annexed.