Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The Ukrainian military said there was heavy fighting near the eastern city of Bakmut. Russia is reportedly sending a new unit of paratroopers in the area.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said there had been successive Russian shelling in several areas, in his speech, Zelenskiy emphasized the need to exert further international pressure on Moscow.
The statement in Bakhmut by military spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyi is the latest by Kyiv in the past week to suggest Russian troops have been pushed back in several areas.
“We successfully carried out defensive operations, counterattacks and during the day our units have penetrated up to 500 meters in sections,” Cherevatyi said.
Furthermore, Cherevatyi said he saw no signs of a Russian troop short of ammunition, contradicting statements by Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group that led Bakhmut’s attack.
“The enemy is trying to take over the city at will, attacking with all systems and calibers. They are transferring new units there (to Bakhmut), especially paratroopers, in an attempt to achieve some kind of intermediate success,” Cherevatyi said.
Moscow sees Bakhmut, a city of about 70,000 before the Russian invasion, as a springboard for seizing the rest of the Donbas industrial eastern region that borders Russia.
Ukrainian officials have hinted the advance around Bakhmut is not part of a wider counteroffensive planned by Kyiv to push back Russian forces.
Moscow did not immediately comment on Cherevatyi’s remarks although Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying its troops were continuing to fight to capture the western part of Bakhmut.
Prigozhin, in an audio statement, appeared to confirm Ukrainian forces now had the advantage on Bakhmut and he had recently criticized the Russian commander.
“Even though the enemy only has a few percent of the territory in Bakhmut, encircling the enemy seems impossible,” he said. “As a result of the enemy’s advance … the Russian paratroopers have taken an advantageous position on the enemy.”
However, Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield situation.
Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Musiyenko said the drawn-out battle was akin to the Soviet army’s defeat of Nazi troops at Stalingrad in 1943 after five months of fighting.
“The Russian team has lost the initiative on the flank – our team has cut off the flank,” Musiyenko told NV Radio.
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2023-05-18 05:50:18
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