Kyiv: Russian attacks on Bakhmut are unsuccessful
The speaker of the Ukrainian Eastern Military Command, Serhiy Cherevaty, said that the Russians are still trying to break through the Ukrainian defense lines near Bakhmut. Fierce fighting also continues near Avdiivka and Vuhledar.
"The enemy is constantly trying to break through our defense lines near Bakhmut. During day, they carried out about 225 strikes using various types of artillery, tanks, multiple launch rocket systems. There were more than 28 fire fights," Cherevaty said during the telethon. "The enemy losses are more than 90 people killed and more than 100 wounded only in the battles near Bakhmut."
The efforts of the Russians in this sector are inconclusive, said Cherevaty noting that Russians continue to suffer heavy losses.
As for the areas of Avdiivka and Vuhledar, heavy fighting continues there. This direction is the second most intense in the Donbas, said the speaker of the Ukrainian Eastern Military Command.
"The enemy is constantly, using all means, trying to break through. But systemically suffers losses and is not able to do it," Cherevaty said.
Earlier, the head of the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Directorate, Kirill Budanov, said that the fighters of the Wagner PMC want to capture Bakhmut so badly because the Wagner’s owner Yevgeny Prigozhin and the commander of the Russian troops in Ukraine Sergey Surovikin have formed an alliance. Now, these two want to prove their strength. Budanov noted that although the occupation of the city can improve Russian positions and open the way for the Russian troops to other cities of the Donbass, this direction is not strategically important.