The U.K. Defense Ministry said on Dec. 3 that Russian forces had “highly likely” made small advances south of Bakhmut in recent days after five months of trying to capture the besieged town in Donetsk Oblast.
The ministry said that Russia likely plans to encircle Bakhmut with “tactical advances to the north and the south,” investing a significant portion of its military effort in capturing the town.
After Russia's battlefield defeats in Ukraine’s northeast and the south, “there is a realistic possibility that Bakhmut’s capture has become primarily a symbolic, political objective for Russia,” it added.
While seizing Bakhmut could allow Russia to launch more attacks on urban areas such as Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in Donetsk Oblast, it would have “limited operational value," according to the U.K. Defense Ministry.
“The campaign has been disproportionately costly relative to these possible gains,” the report reads.
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The number includes 1,010 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.
U.S. President Donald Trump said that his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, may travel to Russia on Aug. 6 or 7 — just days before a deadline for Moscow to reach a peace deal with Ukraine or face secondary tariffs targeting its oil exports.
The Russian and Chinese navies are conducting joint military exercises in the Sea of Japan, the Kremlin said Aug. 3, just days after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of nuclear submarines in a show of force toward Moscow.
Markus Soder, Prime Minister of the German state of Bavaria, has called for an end to citizen's allowance payments for Ukrainian refugees, proposing that new arrivals instead receive reduced benefits under the country's Asylum Seekers Benefits Act.
In an Aug. 3 Fox News interview, senior Trump aide Stephen Miller accused India of helping fund Russia's war in Ukraine by continuing to import oil from Moscow.
A drone strike resulted in a major fire early on Aug. 3 at an oil depot in Russia’s resort city of Sochi, setting ablaze a 2,000-cubic-meter fuel tank, local authorities said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on Aug. 3 imposing sanctions against 94 individuals and five legal entities, primarily targeting the captains of Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" vessels.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Aug. 3 announced the appointment of Lieutenant General Anatoliy Kryvonozhko, who has been serving as the Air Force's acting head since the end of last August.
Russia has been attacking a key bridge in Kherson Oblast since late on Aug. 2, local officials reported.
A Russian missile strike hit the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv overnight on Aug. 3, injuring seven and damaging homes and civilian infrastructure, according to Ukrainian officials.
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