Clashes near Bakhmut persist despite easing, Ukraine’s military says

Clashes are continuing around the devastated city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and Moscow is still suffering “significant losses” despite a relative easing of combat operations in recent days, Kyiv’s armed forces said on Sunday.

Russia claimed late last month to have captured Bakhmut following what had become the war’s longest and bloodiest battle, but Ukraine says its forces still retain a small foothold and denies that Moscow is in full control of the city.

Ukraine’s top military command said in its daily report on Sunday that Russian forces had carried out two unsuccessful operations around Bakhmut and launched a number of air strikes and artillery shelling on nearby villages.

It said some 23 combat clashes had taken place over the past 24 hours in the Donetsk region, where Bakhmut is located, and in neighbouring Luhansk. Russia claims to have annexed both regions from Ukraine, along with three others, including Crimea.

“The enemy continues to suffer significant losses in the Bakhmut direction,” the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on the Telegram messaging app on Saturday after visiting troops in the area. “Defence forces continue to fight. We will win.”

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield accounts.