Ukraine digs its heels in Bakhmut amid Russia’s battering attacks: Updates

In Bakhmut, Ukraine is facing an increasingly strong pressure from Russian forces, British military intelligence said in its latest assessment on the intense fighting taking place in and around the eastern city.

Ukraine is reinforcing the area with elite units, the British Defence Ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin, adding, that regular Russian army and forces of the private military Wagner group have made further advances into the suburbs.

Here are top points on Ukraine facing Russia in Bakhmut:

1. Ukraine armed forces’ general staff said in a Facebook post that Russian troops were trying but failing to surround Bakhmut, Reuters reported.

2. Russia’s victory in Bakhmut may give Russia its first major win in the past seven months.

3. Oleh Zhdanov, prominent Ukrainian analyst of military affairs, said that he could not detect any immediate signs Kyiv was going to order a retreat from Bakhmut.

4. “At the moment the situation is more or less stabilized. In terms of the advancement of Russian troops, we practically stopped (it),” Oleh Zhdanov said.

5. The British defence ministry said two key bridges in Bakhmut have been destroyed within the last 36 hours.

6. Ukrainian-held resupply routes out of the city are increasingly limited, UK defence ministry added.

7. One of those bridges connected Bakhmut to the city’s last main supply route from the Ukrainian-held town of Chasiv Yar, it said.

8. The Ukrainian general staff said Russian attacks had been foiled in the villages of Vasyukivka, Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Dubovo-Vasylivka and Hryhorivka.

9. Russia has earlier said that Bakhmut would be a stepping stone to completing the capture of the Donbas region, one of Moscow’s most important objectives.