According to Russian reports, fierce fighting broke out in areas outside the eastern city of Bakhmut, which was captured by the Wagner Special Military Group in May after months of fighting. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said that the Chechen unit spread in the region. Ukraine launched a counterattack, after supplying it with increasingly advanced Western weapons after more than 500 days of war.
The offensive has so far focused on capturing a group of villages in the southwest, and Ukrainian forces are trying to recover areas around Bakhmut. Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, Hana Malyar, said on Telegram that heavy fighting had broken out in two districts in the southeast. “We are consolidating our gains in those areas,” she wrote.
It said Russian forces were defending Bakhmut, while Ukrainian forces had recorded “progress” on the southern side of the city. The situation in northern Bakhmut remained unchanged, and Ukrainian forces remained engaged in heavy fighting west of Bakhmut and near Liman, to the north in the Donetsk region.
Zelensky was interviewed by US television station ABC ahead of this week’s NATO summit in Lithuania, where Kiev hopes to receive strong indications of future membership in the alliance as well as security guarantees.
Zelensky acknowledged that the progress was slower than he and the army generals wanted, but said it was Ukrainian forces that took the initiative. “We all want to do it faster because every day means new losses for the Ukrainians. We are advancing. We are not stuck,” he said, noting that the army had overcome “some stagnation” in the previous months.
Attention has focused in recent days on the village of Klishchevka, which is located in the highlands south of Bakhmut. Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports. The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces had repulsed the Ukrainian advance near Bakhmut, where fighting became difficult “not only because of the intensity of fire and daily battles, but also because of the terrain.” The line of contact separating the forces of the two countries is located between two hills.
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2023-07-10 06:38:50
