Russians intensify assault on Bakhmut, Ukrainian forces try to dig in

Reuters was able to reach Bakhmut from the west on Monday, proof that the city was not yet surrounded despite Russian forces pressing from north and south to close the last remaining routes in.

Flames and smoke rose into the sky from blazing buildings. Constant gunfire and explosions rang out into the sky. Ukrainian armoured vehicles roared through the streets, while stray dogs wandered amid the mud and debris.

Thousands of residents remain inside the ruined city from a pre-war population of around 70,000.

"It is frightening indeed," said a middle-aged man bundled in a coat and wooly hat on the steps of his apartment block.

"I can hardly move my legs - they barely move - from the stress of the situation," he said. "As long as my home is intact and I am not hurt, I will stay here."

In the town of Chasiv Yar to the west, a grocery shop was ablaze.

"We won't give up Bakhmut. We will hold on to it until the very last," a 25-year-old army medic headed towards the front told Reuters. "Glory to Ukraine, death to the enemies."

In a briefing on Wednesday morning, the Ukrainian military said: "The enemy continues to advance in the direction of Bakhmut. He does not stop storming the city of Bakhmut."


REUTERS