Ukraine official: Russia mounts forces around city

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia is accumulating large forces around Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine as it seeks to make a breakthrough in the Donetsk region, a Ukrainian official said Friday.

Illia Yevlash, spokesperson for the operational group overseeing the eastern front line, told Radio Free Europe/radio Liberty that Russian forces were concentrating efforts to make a push on the strategic city to the west of Bakhmut, which fell to Moscow last May, hoping to advance toward Kostiantynivka, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

Ukrainian forces battling Russian efforts to advance in the Bakhmut direction say they have been experiencing a large Russian push over the past three weeks and are facing constant attacks as Moscow troops send in wave after wave of infantry and target them with a variety of artillery and drones.

With the war into its third year, Russian forces have been bludgeoning some Ukrainian defensive positions into submission, deploying overwhelming amounts of artillery and troop numbers to punch through defensive lines at targeted points.

Though Russia’s gains have been small, slow and costly,

Ukraine doesn’t have enough reservists and has a shortage of artillery shells as the supply of military aid from Western partners has waned.

During a visit to Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region on Friday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and President Voldymyr Zelenskyy signed a security agreement that included $2.1 billion in military aid from the Netherlands this year and more over the next 10 years.

In a post on X, Zelenskyy said the deal prioritized “the provision of air defense, artillery, sea and longrange capabilities, with a particular emphasis on strengthening Ukraine’s air force.”