Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky paid tribute on Sunday to the “bravery” of the soldiers who are fighting the Russian army fiercely in the east of the country, at a time when they could be forced to abandon the city of Bakhmout, which has become the epicenter of an all-out war, and threatened with encirclement. “I would like to pay special tribute to the bravery, strength and resilience of the soldiers fighting in the Donbass”, this region in the east of the country, said Volodymyr Zelensky in his daily message.
He stressed how this battle, which for months has inflicted very heavy losses on both sides, in artillery duels and muddy trenches, was “painful and difficult”. In its daily report, the Ukrainian General Staff stated that “over
130 enemy attacks” had been repelled in the last 24 hours, in several sectors of the front, in particular in Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmout and Avdiïvka. “The enemy continues its attempts to encircle the city of Bakhmout,” he continued, without further details.
Bakhmout, almost surrounded?
The pro-Russian separatist army of Donetsk, auxiliaries to the Russian forces, published a video purporting to show fighters from the Russian paramilitary group Wagner in the northern suburb of Bakhmout, claiming that the small railway station of Stoupky, north of the city, had been conquered. The paramilitary group assured on Friday that it had “virtually surrounded” the city.
Villages north and west of Bakhmout were attacked, Serhii Tcherevatyi, spokesman for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, confirmed on CNN on Saturday. He said that while the situation in Bakhmout was “difficult”, it remained “under control”.
“The Russians could try to encircle the Ukrainian forces in Bakhmout but the Ukrainian command gave the signal that it preferred to withdraw rather than risk an encirclement”, estimated Saturday the Institute for the Study of the war (ISW). , a group of American experts. The battle for Bakhmout, an industrial city whose strategic importance is disputed, has been going on since the summer. The city has become a symbol because it has been at the heart of fighting between Russians and Ukrainians for months.