Ukrainian army may withdraw from Bakhmout, adviser to president says | War in Ukraine
La city is 90% destroyed following intense fighting that has been taking place there for several months.
Soldiers may retreat from Bakhmout, eastern Ukraine, adviser says of President Zelensky. (File photo)
Ukraine's military may withdraw from the key eastern stronghold of Bakhmout, an adviser to Ukraine's president revealed on Wednesday, amid a relentless Russian offensive that has sought for months to take the city.
Our military will obviously evaluate all options. So far, they have held the city, but if necessary they will withdraw strategically, Alexander Rodnyansky, economic adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, told CNN. We're not going to sacrifice all of our people for nothing.
The battle for Bakhmut in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance as the defenders hold their ground in the face of relentless shelling and waves of Russian troops coming under heavy losses in a campaign to capture the city that has lasted for several months.
Bakhmout after a bombardment which took place at the beginning of February. (File photo)
Mr. Rodnyansky noted that Russia was using the best troops from the Wagner Group, a private military company headed by a millionaire with longstanding ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, to surround Bakhmut. Recent drone footage shows the extent of the devastation in the city, which Mr. Zelensky described as destroyed.
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Meanwhile, one of Mr Zelenskyy's top advisers, Mykhailo Podolyak, on Wednesday denied that Ukraine used drones to attack the Russian territory following official Russian statements that Ukraine has targeted infrastructure deep within Russia.
Ukraine does not hit the territory of the Russian Federation. Ukraine is waging a defensive war in an effort to disoccupy all of its territories, Mr. Podolyak wrote on Twitter, suggesting that the targeting of Russian infrastructure was the result of internal attacks.
Ukraine's Western allies have discouraged Ukraine from attacking targets in Russia itself, to avoid an escalation of the conflict, and Mr. Podolyak's statement may reflect an attempt by Kyiv to maintain a degree of denial about these Western concerns.
In the past, Ukrainian officials have not claimed responsibility for attacks in Russia, but have also insisted that Ukraine has the right to strike any target on Russian territory in response. to his aggression.
Images of Bakhmout filmed from the air by a drone. They were taken in mid-February 2023.
Photos of a downed drone near the village of Gubastovo, less than 100 kilometers from Moscow, show that ;it is a small Ukrainian-made model with a range of up to 800 kilometers, but not capable of carrying a large amount of explosives.
< p class="e-p">In Russia's Bryansk region, local governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said in a Telegram message that Russian forces shot down another Ukrainian drone on Tuesday. Officials said the drones caused no injuries and did not inflict significant damage.
A Ukrainian army soldier near the Bahkmut front line in the northeast of the country. The report by our special correspondent Jean-François Bélanger.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that it had prevented a massive drone attack in Crimea. According to Russian state media, six drones were shot down by air defense forces, while four others were disabled by electronic warfare systems.
In Ukraine, at least 9 civilians were killed and 12 others were injured across the country on Tuesday, the office of the Ukrainian president reported Wednesday morning.
Fierce fighting continued in the eastern province of Donetsk, where the towns of Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Vouhledar as well as 17 other towns and villages came under intense Russian bombardment.
“The shelling continues all along the front line.
—President Volodymyr Zelensky's office in his regular update
In the country's easternmost province of Luhansk, regional governor Serhiy Haidai revealed that the #x27;Ukrainian army had blown up a warehouse in Russian-held Kadiivka on the site of a factory where Russian forces were storing trucks full of ammunition.
The Russian army attempted to break through Ukrainian defenses at Bilohorivka and near Kreminna, but the Russian attack was repelled, Haidai said.
