Capturing the city would be Russia's first substantial victory in eight months. Moscow says it would open a route to capturing more territory in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, a major war aim.
After major Ukrainian breakthroughs in the second half of 2022, the front lines have barely budged over the last five months, despite a massive Russian offensive.
"READYING OUR BOYS"
Moscow has made use of hundreds of thousands of freshly conscripted reservists and thousands of convicts recruited as mercenaries from jails. Kyiv, meanwhile, has mostly stuck to defending its lines while waiting for the arrival of new Western arms for an expected counter-offensive in coming months.
"We are readying our boys," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address late on Thursday. "We look forward to the delivery of weapons promised by our partners. We are bringing victory closer as much as possible."
Ukraine had appeared likely to abandon Bakhmut at the end of February, but announced in March it would fight on there, saying it was worth defending the largely ruined city because of the losses it was inflicting on Russians trying to assault it.
Both sides say they are inflicting huge casualties. US intelligence documents leaked last week said Russia had lost 35,500 to 43,000 soldiers killed, while Ukraine had lost 15,500 to 17,500, between a third and half as many.
Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of Ukrainian civilians have also been killed across the country since Russia launched its invasion in February last year. Moscow claims the war is necessary to protect Russia from a security threat. Kyiv and the West call it an unprovoked war to conquer an independent country.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiZmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vd29ybGQvdWtyYWluZS10cm9vcHMtcHVsbC1iYWNrLWJha2htdXQtcnVzc2lhLWFzc2F1bHQtaW52YXNpb24tMzQxODA1NtIBAA?oc=5
2023-04-14 11:38:00Z
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