Russia, Ukraine claim hundreds of enemy troops killed in battle for Bakhmut

• 221 pro-Moscow troops were killed and more than 300 were injured.
• Russia did not specify the number of dead at Bakhmut.
• Both sides have claimed to suffer and inflict heavy losses at Bakhmut.

Ukraine and Russia said on Saturday that hundreds of enemy troops had been killed in the previous 24 hours in the battle for Bakhmut, with Kyiv fighting off an unrelenting onslaught and a small river that bisects the town now defining the new front line.

According to Serhiy Cherevatyi, a Ukrainian military spokeswoman, 221 pro-Moscow troops were killed and more than 300 were injured in Bakhmut. According to Russia’s defense ministry, up to 210 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the Donetsk sector of the battlefield.

While Russia did not specify the number of dead at Bakhmut, the eastern Donetsk town has been the site of one of the bloodiest and longest clashes of the year-long conflict.

Both sides have claimed to suffer and inflict heavy losses at Bakhmut, though the precise number of casualties is impossible to confirm independently.

According to British military intelligence, Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has taken control of much of Bakhmut’s eastern region, an advance that the group’s head, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced on Wednesday.

“In the city centre, the Bakhmutka River now marks the front line,” the British Defence Ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin.

Ukraine insisted that it was holding on in Bakhmut and was giving a “decent rebuff” to Russian forces, with the commander in charge of defending Bakhmut saying its protection was key for a Ukrainian counter-strike.

“It is necessary to gain time to accumulate reserves and start a counter-offensive, which is not far off,” the military cited Colonel general Oleksandr Syrskyi as saying on Saturday.

According to Russia, taking Bakhmut would breach Ukrainian defenses and be a step towards seizing the whole Donbas industrial region, a significant aim. According to Kyiv, the conflict is wearing down Russia’s strongest units.

Prigozhin stated on Saturday that he is now 1.2 kilometers (0.75 miles) from the city’s administrative center. The center is located on the west bank of the Bakhmutka River.

British intelligence said that with the river running through some open ground, “this area has become a killing zone, likely making it highly challenging for Wagner forces attempting to continue their frontal assault westward.”

But the situation remained dangerous for Ukrainian forces.

“The Ukrainian force and their supply lines to the west remain vulnerable to the continued Russian attempts to outflank the defenders from the north and south,” it said.

Also Read

Ukraine says Bakhmut battle wearing down Russia’s best units

Ukraine claims that the Bakhmut conflict has given it an advantage. Russia's...