Reuters: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and a senior defence official issued dire accounts of Russian forces shelling and advancing in Ukraine’s eastern province of Donetsk, the main focal point of the 11-month-long war.
Fierce fighting was unabated in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops are trying to gain ground near the strategic logistics hub of Lyman, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said yesterday evening.
Bakhmut town and 10 communities around it came under Russian artillery and tank fire, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a statement yesterday night. Bakhmut has suffered relentless bombardment for months by Russian troops. Separately, Avdiivka, another major target, and the nearby contested town of Maryinka and other settlements were also hit, the statement said. “A definite increase has been noted in the offensive operations of the occupiers on the front in the east of our country. The situation has become tougher,” Zelenskiy said in yesterday’s evening video address. The Russian forces were trying to make gains that they could show on the anniversary of their 24 Feb 2022 invasion, Zelenskiy said. At least three people were killed and 20 wounded on Wednesday night after a Russian strike destroyed a residential building in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, police said, which is about 55 km (34 miles) northwest of Bakhmut town.