Russian shelling killed one civilian and injured eight others in Bakhmut in Donestk Oblast over the past day, Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram on Jan. 8.
The figures are expected to be much higher as it is currently impossible to gather data on casualties in Russian-occupied Volnovakha and Mariupol, Kyrylenko said.
Bakhmut, a salt-mine city with a pre-war population of around 70,000, is one of Russia's main targets. Seizing it could allow Russian forces to launch attacks on urban areas such as Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in Donetsk Oblast.
Kremlin-controlled private military contractor Wagner Group led by Putin confidant Yevgeniy Prigozhin has been conducting a large portion of Russian operations around Bakhmut. The group employs many poorly-trained convicts it recruited to fight against Ukraine in an attempt to take the city.
