Russian forces lost over 90 killed and more than 100 wounded in 28 separate firefights near the strategic town of Bakhmut in eastern Donetsk Oblast, Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesman of Ukraine's Eastern Operational Command said on national TV, as quoted by Ukrainska Pravda.
According to the military, Russian forces conducted 225 attacks in the Bakhmut sector, using artillery, multiple rocket launch systems, and tanks on Dec. 24.
Russian forces are consistently failing to break through Ukraine’s defense lines in Bakhmut, Cherevatyi said.
Battles of a similarly intense nature also continue near Avdiivka and Vuhledar in Donetsk Oblast. The military said Russian forces could not break Ukrainian defense in two towns.
On Dec. 4, Ukraine's military estimated 50-100 Russian troops are killed in the Bakhmut sector daily.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Dec. 20 that Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast remains the "hottest point" out of the entire 1,300-kilometer front line.
The Kremlin-controlled paramilitary organization Wagner Group, which conducts a large portion of Russian operations around Bakhmut, uses many poorly-trained convicts it had recruited to fight against Ukraine in an attempt to take the city, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on Dec. 19.
Seizing Bakhmut could allow Russian forces to launch attacks on urban areas such as Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in Donetsk Oblast.
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