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Ukraine still able to resupply forces in Bakhmut: officials

19.03.2023 13:45
Ukrainian troops outside the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut are managing to thwart Russian advances, so that ammunition, food and medicines can be supplied to defenders, according to officials.
Ukrainian troops outside the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut are managing to thwart Russian advances, so that ammunition, food and medicines can be supplied to defenders, according to officials.
Ukrainian troops outside the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut are managing to thwart Russian advances, so that ammunition, food and medicines can be supplied to defenders, according to officials.PAP/Abaca/AA/ABACA

The assessment was made by Serhiy Cherevaty, a military spokesperson, on Saturday, the Reuters news agency reported.   

The Ukrainian official told the ICTV television channel: "We are managing to deliver the necessary munitions, food, gear and medicines to Bakhmut. We are also managing to take our wounded out of the city."

Cherevaty said Ukrainian scouts and counter-artillery fire were helping keep open some roads into Bakhmut. 

He added that besides inflicting heavy casualties, pro-Kyiv forces “shot down two Russian drones and destroyed five enemy ammunition depots on Friday,” according to Reuters.

During the course of fighting on Friday, Ukraine’s troops killed 193 Russians and injured 199 others, Kyiv’s officials said.

Russia’s attempt to take Bakhmut ‘failing’: Ukraine’s top presidential aide

Meanwhile, Andriy Yermak, the head of the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, stated on Sunday that Russia’s efforts to seize Bakhmut “are failing,” Polish state news agency PAP reported.

Yermak wrote on the Telegram social messaging app: “The defence forces are holding back the enemy in the east. The enemy’s plans regarding the occupation of Bakhmut are failing,” as quoted by PAP.

Russian forces have been seeking to capture Bakhmut since August 2022, the PAP news agency reported.

The Kremlin sees taking Bakhmut as a priority in its strategy to capture the whole of Ukraine's eastern Donbas industrial region, according to news outlets. 

The besieged city has been largely destroyed as a result of the months-long fighting, amid repeated assaults from Russian forces, the Reuters news agency reported.

Earlier this week, Zelensky and his military commanders agreed to keep defending Bakhmut, according to news outlets.

Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi said the defence of Bakhmut “is key to the stability of the defence of the entire front."  

Sunday is day 389 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. 

(pm)

Source: PAP, Reuters, The Guardian