by Angelo Gambella –
The Ukrainian counter-offensive has been going on in Bakhmut’s campaign for the second day, although it is not declared as such by the Ukrainian military authorities themselves. Kiev forces broke through Russian lines in the Ivanivsk area and Bohadnivka area. Already yesterday the 3rd Ukrainian Armored Brigade carried out an operation in the southern countryside of Bakhmut, recovering an area that was held by mercenaries of the private Russian company Wagner, who had to retreat.
The Wagners instead advance in the urban battle, and continue to push in the western district of Bakhmut, in the area of the skyscrapers, the so-called “citadel” where the Ukrainian units are entrenched for the last resistance. The decisive melee is approaching. Territorial gain is measured in metres, with today 230 meters being claimed being claimed. The Russians have also resumed attacks in the Seversk sector, making some progress.
The Ukrainian armed forces are intensifying actions in the Soledar sectors, near Bakhmut, but also in the towns of Majorsk and Maryinka, also in the Donetsk region. It is reported that columns with Western-made tanks have been sighted in the Kharkiv region: it is not clear whether the armored vehicles will be used towards the Kupyansk sector or for a direct action towards the state border, towards the Russian region of Belgorod, but the latter are just unreliable speculations of pro-Russian channels. Other pro-Russian sources instead report that, apart from Bakhmut’s campaign, there are no Ukrainian attacks underway, just a concentration of forces. Pro-Ukrainian sources remain confidential.
