Russian forces threaten Ukraine supply line to Bakhmut
Pavel Polityuk |
Russian forces have likely seized the centre of the fiercely contested city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and are threatening a key supply route for Ukrainian forces to the west, British intelligence says.
Asked to comment on the report, a Ukrainian military command spokesman said the situation was difficult in Bakhmut and that Russian forces were concentrating all efforts to take the city but were not having “strategic success”.
The months-long battle for Bakhmut, one of the last urban centres in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province yet to fall to Russian forces, has proven one of the bloodiest of the war.
The British report, if confirmed, indicates Ukrainian forces are under severe pressure, two days after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said troops would withdraw if at risk of encirclement.
Donetsk is one of four provinces in eastern and southern Ukraine that Russia is seeking to fully occupy. It declared them annexed last year after failing to seize the capital Kyiv in an attempt to overrun Ukraine early in the war.
Friday’s daily update from British intelligence contrasted with the usual emphasis on Ukrainian military successes.
“Russia has made further gains and has now highly likely advanced into the town centre, and has seized the west bank of the Bakhmutka River. Ukraine’s key 0506 supply route to the west of the town is likely severely threatened,” it said.
Eastern Military Command spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyi told Reuters that Ukraine controlled the situation in Bakhmut and understood Russian intentions.
“The situation is difficult, the enemy is concentrating maximum efforts to capture Bakhmut. However it is suffering serious losses and not reaching strategic success,” Cherevatyi said.
Western analysts say both sides are losing large numbers of troops in the battle for Bakhmut.
They have played down the strategic significance of the city but Ukraine has framed its dogged defence as a way of wearing down Russian forces before a counter-offensive bolstered by advanced Western-supplied weapons.
Earlier, a top Russian official said there was no chance of peace talks this year after French President Emmanuel Macron urged Chinese leader Xi Jinping to persuade Russia to negotiate an end to the conflict.
Following talks in Beijing on Thursday with Macron and European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen, Xi said he hoped Russia and Ukraine could hold negotiations as soon as possible and warned all countries against using nuclear weapons.
Standing alongside the Chinese president outside the Great Hall of the People ahead of their meeting, Macron told Xi that “Russian aggression in Ukraine has dealt a blow to stability”.
“I know I can count on you to bring back Russia to reason and everyone back to the negotiating table,” Macron said.
There are no talks going on aimed at ending the war, and Dmitry Suslov, an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was quoted in Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper on Thursday as saying there was “zero” chance of talks happening in 2023.
Four civilians were killed on Thursday in the Russia-controlled Donetsk region when shells hit a car park, Russia’s Tass news agency said. Three people died in blasts at a bus stop in Lysychansk, northeast of Donetsk, RIA news agency reported.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the reports.
Reuters
