Ukraine’s commander-in-chief says the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which Russia has been trying to capture for months, is “stabilizing”.
Earlier this month, Western officials estimated that between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded in Bakhmut since last summer.
But despite this, Valerii Zaluzhnyi said the “tremendous efforts” of Ukraine’s troops were holding Russia back.
Moscow is desperate for victory after failing to make recent big gains.
Despite this, military analysts believe that Bakhmut has little strategic value, the city’s importance now being symbolic.
On Facebook, Lt. Gen. Zaluzhnyi said that while the situation on Ukraine’s front lines is “most difficult in the Bekhmut direction… due to the great efforts of the defense forces, we are managing to stabilize the situation”.
Lt Gen Zaluzhnyi posted after speaking with UK Chief of Defense Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin about the situation in Ukraine.
His comments are the latest positive sign from Ukrainian officials about the long battle for Bakhmut.
On Thursday, the country’s ground forces commander Oleksandr Sersky said Russian troops were “exhausted” near Bakhmut.
Mr Sersky added that while Russia “has not given up hope of taking Bakhmut at all costs despite losses in manpower and equipment… they are losing significant strength”.
“Very soon we will take advantage of this opportunity, as we did near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliya and Kupiansk,” he said, referring to successful Ukrainian counterattacks last year.
And earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the front line near Bakhmut, where he last visited in December.
Footage released by his office showed him handing out medals to soldiers he called “heroes” in an old warehouse.
On Wednesday, Britain said a Ukrainian counter-offensive west of Bakhmut was likely to ease pressure on the supply route to the city, and that a Russian attack on the city could lose its “limiting momentum”.
But the statement added that “Ukrainian defenses are threatened by an envelope from the north and south”.
Meanwhile, the War Institute said Thursday that while Ukraine still outnumbers the Wagner Group, Ukrainian forces “continue to eliminate mercenaries, leaving Ukrainian forces in the indefinite future.” will be able to carry out offensive operations”.
Wagner, a private, mercenary organization, is at the center of the Russian attack on Bakhmut. Its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has staked his reputation by taking over the city.
About 70,000 people lived in Bakhmut before the invasion, but only a few thousand remain.
Its capture would move Russia a little closer to controlling the entire region of Donetsk, one of four regions in eastern and southern Ukraine that Russia illegally annexed last September.
