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Ukrainian military commander vows not to back down from Bakhmut PHOTO/Reuters
KIEV – Military leaders Ukraine has expressed determination to defend Bakhmut. This determination was strengthened when the team Russia penetrated the ruined eastern city. Moscow troops have been trying to take the city for 6 months at the cost of thousands of lives.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said he discussed the Bakhmut operation on Monday (6/3/2023), with the Chief of the General Staff and the Commander of the Ground Forces, who both supported “further strengthening of positions in Bakhmut” and continuing defensive operations.
Intense Russian shelling targeted the town in the Donetsk region and nearby villages as Moscow pressed a three-sided attack to try to finish off the Bakhmut resistance.
Commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, visited Bakhmut on Sunday (5/3/2023), according to the military. He said the Wagner Group, Russia’s mercenary army, had deployed additional troops into the battle, but the Ukrainian army was fighting on.
Volodymyr Nazarenko, a Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut, said there were no orders to withdraw and “the defense held out”, despite the grim conditions.
“The situation in Bakhmut and its environs is very bad, as it is on the entire eastern front,” Nazarenko said in a video posted on Telegram.
The nearby towns of Chasiv Yar and Kostiantynivka were heavily hit. The Russian attack damaged cars and homes, and started a fire. No casualties were immediately reported.
Police and volunteers evacuated people from Chasiv Yar and other frontline towns in an operation complicated by the destruction of bridges and constant artillery fire that left only one home.
