Kiev (EFE).- The Ukrainian and Russian armies continue to maintain heavy fighting, almost street to street, in the strategic city of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, with some victory for Ukraine in the last few hours, according to local military authorities.
The city, which has been totally destroyed and in which barely 3,000 residents remain out of the 70,000 it initially had, has been the center of clashes between Russians and Ukrainians for the past six months.
“Ukrainian Special Operations Forces eliminated a company of Russian troops and destroyed an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone),” the Ukrainian command said today on its Telegram account.
repelled advances
“One of the units eliminated a (Russian) enemy company and destroyed an Orlan-10 UAV (unmanned vehicle) in the last days of combat on the (Bajmut) front,” the message said.
The Special Operations Forces indicate that they “continue to defend Bakhmut and that” any attempt to advance by the enemy is repelled.
The Wagner mercenary group operates in the area, a private assault force linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, which has recruited hundreds of prisoners from Russian jails to its ranks who have been promised amnesty if they enlisted.
Control of the city, already totally destroyed by continuous bombing, has become a priority objective for kyiv and Moscow, despite the fact that many analysts consider its geostrategic importance to be relative.