loading…
Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine Claims Situation in Bakhmut Stable. PHOTO/Reuters
KIEV – The team Ukraine had managed to blunt the attack Russia in and around the embattled city of Bakhmut. “Currently the situation is stable,” said the Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine, General Valery Zaluzhniy, Saturday (25/3/2023).
Bakhmut is the main Russian target. Moscow troops are trying to completely seize the Donbas industrial region of Ukraine. At one point Russian commanders expressed confidence that the city would soon fall, but such claims have since subsided amid heavy fighting.
“Bakhmut’s direction is the most difficult. Thanks to the massive efforts of the defense forces, the situation is stabilizing,” Zaluzhniy said in a post on Telegram, as quoted by Reuters.
Separately, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said a months-long Russian offensive on the town had stalled, mainly as a result of heavy troop losses. Military experts say there are clear signs that Russia is short on equipment, especially heavy tanks.
Russian attacks in and around Bakhmut have fallen to fewer than 20 per day compared to 30 or more in recent days, online news outlet Novoe Vremia quoted Ukrainian military spokesman Serhiy Cherevaty.
Meanwhile President Vladimir Putin told state television that Russia plans to build and upgrade a total of 1,600 tanks over the next three years, well above the original number of 440 tanks.
As well as promising more tanks, Putin also reiterated his criticism of Britain’s plans to supply Ukraine with battle tank ammunition containing depleted uranium.
“Russia, of course, has something to respond to. We have, without exaggeration, hundreds of thousands, yes hundreds of thousands of such bullets. We haven’t used it yet,” Putin said.
Pro-Moscow troops also attacked positions further south at Avdiivka on the outskirts of the Russian-held city of Donetsk, as well as further north, at Svatove.
(esn)
