Ukraine says Bakhmut battle is grinding down Russia's best units

The comments by Mykhailo Podolyak were the latest signal of a shift by Kyiv this week to continue the defense of the small eastern city, site of the war's bloodiest battle, as Moscow tries to secure its first major victory in more than half a year.

"Russia has changed tactics," Podolyak said in an interview published by Italy's La Stampa newspaper. "It has converged on Bakhmut with a large part of its trained military personnel, the remnants of its professional army, as well as the private companies."

"We, therefore, have two objectives: to reduce their capable personnel as much as possible, and to fix them in a few key wearisome battles, to disrupt their offensive and concentrate our resources elsewhere, for the spring counter-offensive. So, today Bakhmut is completely effective, even exceeding its key tasks."

Russia has made Bakhmut the main target of a winter push involving hundreds of thousands of reservists and mercenaries.

It has captured the eastern part of the city and outskirts to the north and south, but has so far failed to close a ring around Ukrainian defenders.

Kyiv, which had seemed at the start of March to be planning to withdraw westward, announced this week that its generals had decided to reinforce Bakhmut and fight on.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that, as Russia pressed its offensive, "our soldiers are doing everything possible to prevent the enemy implementing their plans".

Russia's advances have appeared to slow amid highly public complaints from Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner private militia leading Russia's assault, that the military command was failing to provide his men with enough ammunition.

Prigozhin on Friday thanked the government publicly for a "heroic" increase in output - but in the same audio message said he was "worried about ammunition and shell shortages not only for Wagner ... but for all units of the Russian army".

Moscow says capturing Bakhmut would punch a hole in Ukrainian defenses and be a step towards seizing all of Ukraine's Donbas industrial region, a major target.

Trench warfare, described by both sides as a meat grinder, has claimed a huge toll. But Kyiv's decision to stay and fight suggests it believes Russia's losses far exceed its own.

REUTERS