Pressure rising in Bakhmut as Russian forces make advances, U.K. intelligence says

Ukrainian forces defending Bakhmut are facing increasing pressure from Russian forces, British military intelligence said on Saturday, as fierce fighting raged in and around the eastern city.

Ukraine is reinforcing the area with elite units, while the regular Russian army and the forces of the Russian private military Wagner group have advanced to the northern outskirts of Bakhmut, the British Ministry of Defence. said in the daily intelligence bulletin on Twitter.

Two main bridges in Bakhmut had been destroyed in the last 36 hours, he said, adding that resupply routes held by Ukraine out of the city were limited.

One of the bridges connects Bakhmut to the city’s last main supply route from the Ukrainian-held town of Chasiv Yar, about 13 kilometers to the west, he said.

Ukraine’s military command said Russia was still trying to encircle Bakhmut but said Ukrainian forces had repelled a Russian attack on the city.

“The enemy has not stopped trying to surround Bakhmut,” he said in his briefing note on Saturday morning, adding that in the past day, Ukrainian forces had defeated a Russian attack on Bakhmut.

Russian artillery pounded the last route out of Bakhmut on Friday, aiming to complete the encirclement of the besieged city and bring Moscow closer to its first major victory in the war in six months.

The struggle for the constant

In the midst of the fighting, the remaining civilians in the area spoke of their daily struggles amid near-constant enemy fire.

Residents of Bakhmut, Hennadiy Mazepa and his wife Natalia Ishkova, both chose to stay in Bakhmut, despite the fierce fighting that left much of the city in ruins.

Ishkova said on Saturday that she was suffering from a lack of food and basic necessities.

“Humanity [aid] given to us only once a month. No electricity, no water, no gas,” he told The Associated Press.

“I pray to God that all who remain here will be safe.”

Attacks near failure: Ukraine

The Ukrainian briefing also said Russian attacks had been repelled in the villages of Ivanivske and Bohdanivka, both less than eight kilometers west of Bakhmut city centre.

The capture of these villages, which lie along the important Bakhmut-Chasiv Yar road on the left, would leave the city at the tip of the Russian border.

The battle for Bakhmut has been raging for seven months. A Russian victory in the city, which had a pre-war population of around 70,000 and has been devastated in the offensive, would give Moscow its first major prize in a costly winter offensive, after calling up hundreds of thousands of its last reservists. year.

Russia says it will be a step toward settling the Donbas industrial region, one of Moscow’s most important goals.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described Bakhmut as a “fortress”.

“No one will give Bakhmut. We will fight until we can. We consider Bakhmut our fortress,” he said at a press conference in Kyiv on February 3.

Also, on Saturday, Russia’s defense chief traveled to eastern Ukraine to inspect troops and present them with state decorations, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Sergei Shoigu visited the command post of Russia’s Eastern forces, where he was introduced by regional commander Rustam Muradov, according to a video published by the ministry. The video does not reveal the location of the command post.