- Russia conducts 50 attacks each day in Donetsk.
- Ukraine is still holding Bakhmut and is attempting to “stabilize” the frontline around the town.
- Ukrainian forces have managed to maintain the position.
LVIV: Ukraine forces hold defense along the frontline in Donetsk, including the besieged town of Bakhmut, with the fiercest battles raging for the cities of Vuhledar and Maryinka, Kyiv’s top military commander said on Saturday.
According to Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Russia conducts 50 attacks each day in Donetsk, a territory in Ukraine’s southeast that Moscow has been attempting to entirely seize.
“Fierce fighting continues in the area of Vuhledar and Maryinka,” Zaluzhnyi said in a Telegram message after a call with U.S. General Mark Milley.
“We reliably hold the defense. In some areas of the front, we have managed to regain previously lost positions and gained a foothold.”
Zaluzhnyi did not indicate the location of the gains. He stated that Ukraine is still holding Bakhmut and is attempting to “stabilize” the frontline around the town.
Heavy resistance from Ukraine
The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary squad claimed on Saturday that his soldiers are experiencing heavy resistance from Ukrainian defenders around Bakhmut.
Britain reported on Friday that Russian forces were making progress north of Bakhmut but were having difficulty attacking Vuhledar, some 150 kilometers (93 miles) farther south.
It is impossible to independently establish either side’s control regions, as fighting along the frontline has decreased in recent months to what the Ukrainian defense ministry refers to as “crawling” attempts to progress slowly.
According to Ukraine’s military analyst Oleh Zhdanov, despite Russian pressure in Maryinka, a practically deserted and damaged tiny city that has been on the frontlines since the war began a year ago, Ukrainian forces have managed to maintain the position.
“Fighting is going on in the city center, but there have been no changes over the past 24 hours,” Zhdanov said in a social media video.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Wagner, claimed it could take two years for Moscow to control the entire Donetsk and Luhansk areas of Ukraine. Last year, Moscow claimed both as “republics” of Russia, a move criticized by the majority of UN member states as unconstitutional.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other military officials have been on a diplomatic marathon in recent months trying to secure more Western weapons and fighter aircraft.
“The key to success on the battlefield is effective fire damage, which requires an appropriate amount of weapons and ammunition,” Zaluzhnyi said.
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