The Ukrainian army has reported “bloody fighting unprecedented in recent decades” in the eastern city of Bakhmut, while the death toll from a Russian attack on residential buildings in nearby Sloviansk has risen to 11.
Saturday’s reported battles came as Russia’s defense ministry said fighters from its Wagner mercenary group had seized two more areas of Bakhmut.
Since last summer, Wagner has been leading the Russian effort to take the city, the main target of the Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine.
The battle has been the longest and deadliest battle of the war for both sides.
“Bloody fighting unprecedented in recent decades is taking place in the middle of the urban area of the city,” said Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern military command.
“Our soldiers are doing everything they can to strike down in bloody and fierce battles [the enemy’s] fighting ability and breaking morale,” he told the 1+1 television channel. “Every day, in every corner of this city, they do it successfully.”
Russia, meanwhile, claimed claims in Bakhmut.
“Wagner assault units have successfully advanced and captured two districts on the northern and southern outskirts of the city,” Russia’s defense ministry said in a briefing.
It added that paratrooper units of the Russian army supported the claimed advance by holding back Ukrainian troops on the flanks.
Al Jazeera could not independently confirm the reports.
The United Kingdom said in an intelligence update on Friday that Ukrainian troops had been forced to cede part of the area in Bakhmut as Russia launched a renewed attack there, with intense artillery fire over the past two days.
‘Indescribable sadness’
In nearby Sloviansk, which is about 45 km to the northwest, Ukrainian officials said rescue teams had recovered the bodies of two more people from under the rubble of a house hit by a Russian missile strike, bringing the toll there to 11.
According to Ukrainian officials, seven Russian missiles hit five buildings, five houses and an administrative building on Friday.
An earlier toll reported nine dead, including a two-year-old boy who was rescued from the rubble but died on the way to hospital, and 21 injured.
Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska sent her condolences to the child’s family during this “indescribable grief”.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced Russia for “brutally firing” at residential buildings and “killing people in broad daylight”.
Ukrainian officials said rescuers in Sloviansk continued to search for five people left in the wreckage of the apartment building, as well as the residents of three units who had been reported missing.
Ukraine’s air force, meanwhile, said the country would soon have weapons to prevent attacks like Friday’s.
Delivery of the Patriot air defense system promised by the United States was expected in Ukraine sometime after Easter, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said.
The predominantly Orthodox Christian country is preparing to celebrate Easter on Sunday.
Speaking on Ukrainian state television, Ihnat declined to give a precise timeline for the defensive missile system’s arrival, but said the public would know “once the first Russian plane is shot down.”
Germany and the Netherlands have also committed to each providing Ukraine with a Patriot system.
In addition, a SAMP/T anti-missile system promised by France and Italy should “enter Ukraine in the near future,” Ihnat said.
On the diplomatic front, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Saturday said the US should stop “encouraging war” in Ukraine as he completed a state visit to China.
He also urged the European Union to “start talking about peace”.
Zelensky has said he will not negotiate with Russia as long as President Vladimir Putin is in power, and on Saturday reiterated Ukraine’s desire to join NATO as soon as possible.
Kiev would need effective security guarantees before that happened, he said, but gave no details.
Russia had said this month that it wants all peace talks over Ukraine to be aimed at creating a “new world order”.
Moscow has long said it is fighting a battle against Washington’s dominance on the international scene and argues that the offensive in Ukraine is part of that battle.