Kyiv vows to up ante in Bakhmut

UKRAINE pledged yesterday to bolster its defences in frontline Bakhmut, after reports that Kyiv was withdrawing from the city that’s become a symbolic prize in the war.

The eastern Ukrainian city has been virtually flattened in what has become the longest and bloodiest battle since Russia’s more than year-long invasion.

Ukraine has reported a difficult situation around Bakhmut in recent days. Analysts said its forces may have initiated a strategic retreat.

But President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met top commanders and his office said they were in favour of “continuing the defensive operation and further strengthening our positions in Bakhmut”.

Russia has appeared determined to take Bakhmut at all costs, despite analysts saying the city has little strategic value. The Ukrainian army said its troops had fought off “more than 130” Russian attacks in a single day around Bakhmut and said Moscow’s forces were trying to encircle the city.

The US-based Institute for the Study of War said Ukrainian forces may have initiated a strategic retreat from the city. “Ukrainian forces are likely conducting a limited tactical withdrawal in Bakhmut, but it is still too early to assess Ukrainian intentions concerning a complete withdrawal from the city.”

As the fight rages, the head of Russia’s mercenary group Wagner, spearheading the Bakhmut battle, complained his forces there lacked ammunitionYevgeny Prigozhin alleged late on Sunday that Russian reservists meant to deploy to Bakhmut had been diverted and that ammunition promised by the military was days late in arriving.

“We are trying to understand what the reasons are – bureaucracy or betrayal,” Prigozhin said on social media. Prigozhin, a Kremlin-linked businessman, has seen his influence grow hugely during Moscow’s offensive. He has regularly competed with the Russian army.

Ukraine also faced new air attacks, with the air force saying that it had shot down 13 explosive drones launched from southern Russia. The air force said that Russian forces had launched 15 Iran-made Shahed drones, 13 of which Ukrainian forces shot down.

Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Mariupol, the port city that Moscow captured last May after a long siege. Shoigu toured the destroyed city to oversee reconstruction efforts.

In Moscow, Russia’s FSB security service said it had thwarted an attempt to assassinate a pro-Kremlin tycoon, Konstantin Malofeyev. The FSB blamed a Russian-founded sabotage group that has penetrated the borders from Ukraine.