Ukrainian military sources reported on Wednesday night that Russian forces had achieved some victory in the eastern border city of Bakhmut, noting that their fighters were still holding out in the conflict that has lasted for several months.
The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog organization in southern Ukraine claimed that the area around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia power station could no longer be secured due to a considerable increase of troops.
Most of Russia’s 13-month invasion of neighboring Ukraine has been focused on the mining city of Bakhmut and the nearby villages in the eastern industrial region of Donetsk. Both sides have sustained significant losses and neither is in complete control.
In a routine midnight report, the General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces stated that “enemy forces had some degree of success in their efforts aimed at seizing the city of Bakhmut.”
The city is being held by our defenders, who are also successfully fending off multiple enemy assaults.
Since the beginning of March, the general staff of Ukraine has reported fewer Russian attacks on the front line on average every day; this number has decreased for four weeks in a row, from 124 the week of March 1–7 to 69 over the previous seven days. On Wednesday, only 57 attacks were reported.
The intensity of Russian attacks last week significantly decreased, according to journalists stationed close to the front west of Bakhmut and further north.
Russian officials claim that their troops are continuing to make gains within Bakhmut as they fight street by street.
No protection is possible.
Despite worries of a nuclear calamity, Russian troops captured the Zaporizhzhia power station in the first few weeks of the war a year ago, and attempts to stop the fighting and shelling surrounding it have failed.
On a subsequent visit to the plant on Wednesday, Rafael Grossi, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, informed Russian reporters that there had been a “substantial increase” in the number of troops in the area.
“It is clear that military action is rising across the board in this area. As a result, the plant cannot be safeguarded “explained he.
The briefing was recorded and made available to Reuters.
Grossi stated that in order to put forth precise security measures that would be acceptable to both Russia and Ukraine, he was setting aside plans for a security perimeter around the plant.
The plant was a prized component of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and produced around 20% of the country’s electricity prior to the invasion. Since September, when the last of its six reactors were shut down, it has not produced any electricity.
According to the Ukrainian general staff, Russian soldiers shelled cities in the central Zaporizhzhia area, including the contentious city of Hulyaipole.
Switched Focus
Oleh Zhdanov, a military veteran from Ukraine, claimed that although the onslaught on Bakhmut was still going strong, “the conclusion is that Russian troops are beginning to dash around from place to place.”
Zhdanov said that Ukrainian fighters were still in control of Bakhmut, as were the general staff.
According to a YouTube video by Zhdanov, “it now looks like the enemy has changed its focus to the city itself” because that is where the most intense fighting is currently occurring.
Last week, the British defense ministry labeled the advancement of Russian soldiers as “minimal,” and on Wednesday, U.S. senior general Mark Milley testified before legislators that during the previous 20 to 21 days, Russian troops had not advanced in or around Bakhmut.
The Ukrainian military also reported that settlements on the west bank of the Dnipro River, which divides the nation in half, as well as Kherson city in the south, were once again being shelled.
According to the Ukrainian air force, a Russian Su-24M aircraft was destroyed. An ammunition dump, two fuel depots, and two places of concentration of Russian forces were all hit during the previous 24 hours, it claimed.
To lessen a threat to its own security, Russia launched what it called a “special military operation,” which resulted in the deaths of thousands of personnel on both sides, tens of thousands of civilians in Ukraine, and the displacement of millions. The invasion also affected international relations and the world economy.
In response to Russia’s invasion, which they see as an imperialistic land grab, Britain, the United States, and other European friends of Ukraine have given it weaponry and financial support.
