Pressure from Russian forces mounts on Ukrainians hunkered down in Bakhmut, as residents flee with help from troops who analysts say may be preparing to withdraw from the key eastern stronghold as fighting enters its 375th day Follow our live coverage👇
Ukrainian soldiers fire a 105mm Howitzer towards Russian positions, near the city of Bakhmut, on March 4, 2023. The Ukraine armed forces' general staff has said that Russian troops were trying but failing to surround eastern Bakhmut, adding defenders had repelled numerous attacks in and around the city.
The battle has raged for seven months. A Russian victory in the city, which had a pre-war population of about 70,000 and has been blasted to ruins in the onslaught, would give Moscow the first major prize in a costly winter offensive. Oleh Zhdanov, a prominent Ukrainian analyst of military affairs, said that he could not detect any immediate signs Kiev was going to order a retreat from the city.
"At the moment the situation is more or less stabilised. In terms of the advancement of Russian troops, we practically stopped ," he said in a YouTube interview. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has described Bakhmut as a "fortress", thanked defenders in the city in a fresh video message but gave no details of the fighting.
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