Both sides fighting over the desolate ruins of the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine have reported inflicting huge numbers of deaths on each other as the bitter bloodshed appears to have escalated to previously unseen levels.
On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that over 1,100 Russian fighters had been killed in the city in less than a week. He claimed that Moscow had sustained a further 1,500 “sanitary losses”—meaning casualties injured badly enough to be unable to continue fighting.
A separate video released by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claimed 1,090 troops had been killed on Saturday alone, possibly making it the single deadliest day for Russian forces since the beginning of the invasion in February 2022.
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Military spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun also said Ukrainian forces took out eight tanks, seven armored vehicles and four artillery systems. Russia’s defense ministry released its own statement Sunday claiming that more than 220 Ukrainian troops had been killed in the Donetsk region over the previous 24 hours. Neither side’s figures have been independently verified.
Over the weekend, British intelligence released updates on the battle which said that Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group forces had seized control of most of the eastern area of Bakhmut, and that the Bakhmutka River running through the center of the town now had become the new frontline.
Ukrainian forces still hold the west of the town and had destroyed bridges over the river, leaving a strip of open ground through which Russian forces would have to pass to gain further ground. “With Ukrainian units able to fire from fortified buildings to the west, this area has become a killing zone, likely making it highly challenging for Wagner forces attempting to continue their frontal assault westwards,” a British intelligence update read.
In comments released by his press service, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin on Sunday described the situation as “tough, very tough,” adding: “The closer we are to the center of the city, the harder the fighting... The Ukrainians throw in endless reserves. But we are advancing and we will be advancing.”
Despite international analysts deeming Bakhmut to be of little strategic importance, capturing the city would inch the Kremlin closer to its aim of seizing the entire Donbas region—one of the four areas of Ukraine that the Kremlin announced it had annexed in September. Bakhmut has also become something of a point of personal pride for Prigozhin, with the mercenary chief previously criticizing top Russian military officials for insufficiently supporting Wagner’s efforts to take the town.
But exactly how close his forces are to taking Bakhmut remains uncertain. On Saturday, the Institute for the Study of War cast doubt on how much progress Russian forces are making in the city. “Ukrainian and Russian sources continue to report heavy fighting in the city, but Wagner Group fighters are likely becoming increasingly pinned in urban areas, such as the AZOM industrial complex, and are therefore finding it difficult to make significant advances,” the Washington-based think-tank said in a report.
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