Woman killed and others injured as Ukrainian and Russian forces fight street battles in Bakhmut – amid fears eastern city will fall to Vladimir Putin’s forces
- Ukrainian and Russian soldiers fought street battles in Bakhmut earlier this week
- Woman was killed and two men badly wounded while crossing makeshift bridge
- Bakhmut has be prime target of Moscow’s eastern offensive in the year-long war
Ukrainian and Russian forces fought street battles in Bakhmut yesterday as desperate residents tried to flee the eastern city amid fears it will fall to Vladimir Putin’s advancing troops.
A woman was killed and two men were badly wounded by shelling while trying to cross a makeshift bridge out of the city in Donetsk province, according to Ukrainian troops who were helping them.
An army representative said it was now too dangerous for civilians to leave Bakhmut by vehicle and residents had to flee on foot.
Bakhmut has for months been a prime target of Moscow’s grinding eastern offensive in the war, with Russian troops – including forces from the private Wagner Group – inching ever closer. A pontoon bridge was set up by Ukrainian soldiers to help the few remaining residents escape to the village of Khromove. Witnesses later saw at least five houses on fire as a result of attacks in the village.
Ukrainian units destroyed two key bridges just outside Bakhmut in the past two days, including one linking it to the nearby town of Chasiv Yar along the last remaining Ukrainian resupply route.
A Ukrainian serviceman poses for photo in front of a memorial in Bakhmut region amid Russia-Ukraine war in Chasiv Yar, Ukraine
Bakhmut has for months been a prime target of Moscow’s grinding eastern offensive in the war, with Russian troops – including forces from the private Wagner Group – inching ever closer
READ MORE: Column of advancing Russian tanks and armoured vehicles is obliterated by Ukrainian artillery
At least one of the tanks appears to explode in a giant fireball, with smoke billowing into the sky
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said in a Twitter update that the destruction of the bridges came as Russian fighters made further inroads into Bakhmut’s northern suburbs.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think-tank, said Ukrainian troops may ‘conduct a limited and controlled withdrawal from particularly difficult sections of eastern Bakhmut’, while seeking to inhibit Russian movement there and limit exit routes to the west.
Capturing Bakhmut would not only give Russian fighters a rare battlefield gain after months of setbacks, but it might rupture Ukraine’s supply lines and allow the Kremlin’s forces to press towards other Ukrainian strongholds in the Donetsk region.
Civilians spoke about daily struggles as the fighting raged on nearly non-stop, reducing much of Bakhmut to rubble.
Husband and wife Hennadiy Mazepa and Natalia Ishkova said they lacked food and basic utilities. ‘Humanitarian (aid) is given to us only once a month. There is no electricity, no water, no gas,’ Natalia said. ‘I pray to God that all who remain here will survive.’
Russia’s defence chief travelled to eastern Ukraine yesterday to inspect troops and award them with state decorations.
Sergei Shoigu visited a command post where he was briefed by regional commander Rustam Muradov, according to a video published by Russia’s defence ministry.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said in a Twitter update that the destruction of the bridges came as Russian fighters made further inroads into Bakhmut’s northern suburbs
Elsewhere, Ukraine’s emergency services reported that the death toll from a Russian missile strike that hit a five-storey apartment building in southern Ukraine on Thursday had risen to 11.
Emergency services said rescuers pulled three more bodies from the wreckage overnight – 36 hours after a missile tore through four floors of the building in the riverside city of Zaporizhzhia.
In the western city of Lviv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, who said that ‘all those responsible’ for suspected Russian war crimes in Ukraine, including Putin, must be brought to justice before a durable peace is achieved.
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