Ukraine still able to supply troops in battered Bakhmut

Ukrainian forces outside the battered eastern city of Bakhmut are managing to keep Russian units at bay so ammunition, food, equipment and medicines can be delivered to defenders.

“We are managing to deliver the necessary munitions, food, gear and medicines to Bakhmut. We are also managing to take our wounded out of the city,” military spokesperson Serhiy Cherevaty told the ICTV television channel.

He said Ukrainian scouts and counter-artillery fire were helping keep open some roads into the city.

As well as inflicting heavy casualties, pro-Kyiv forces shot down two Russian drones and destroyed five enemy ammunition depots on Friday, he added.

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Russia has made the capture of Bakhmut a priority in its strategy to take control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas industrial region.

The city has been largely destroyed in months of fighting, with Russia launching repeated assaults.

In its latest casualties claim, Kyiv said its troops had killed 193 Russians and injured 199 others during the course of fighting on Friday.

Last Sunday President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces suffered more than 1,100 dead in less than a week of battles in and around Bakhmut.

Zainab Sa’id