Ukraine’s military says Russia hit its positions near Bakhmut 130 times over past 24 hours

Russian troops struck Ukrainian positions near Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast about 130 times on March 6, according to Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesman for the eastern grouping of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.

Russia has thrown its best units at Ukraine's eastern city of Bakhmut and is conducting the most intensive artillery fire on that area, Cherevatyi said on national television, commenting on a recent statement by Ukraine's Ground Forces Commander Oleksandr Syrskyi that the battle for Bakhmut has reached its peak.

In its evening update, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported that Russia continued storming Bakhmut and its surroundings “regardless of its losses.”

Russian troops also tried to advance in the areas of Zaliznianske, Dubovo-Vasylivka, and Ivanivske north and west from Bakhmut, but didn’t succeed, according to the General Staff.

The battle for Bakhmut, a city in Donetsk Oblast, has been raging for the past seven months. The Russian military is attempting to increase its grip over the entirety of the oblast, around half of which it currently occupies.

Ukrainian infantrymen recently told the Kyiv Independent of unprepared, poorly-trained battalions being sent to the front line to survive as best they could with little support from armored vehicles, mortars, artillery, drones, and tactical information.

Except for Bakhmut, Russian forces are reportedly concentrating their efforts on conducting offensives toward Kharkiv Oblast’s Kupiansk, Lyman, and Shakhtarsk in Donetsk Oblast.

Over the past 24 hours, Russia carried out 42 air strikes and five missile attacks against Ukraine, conducting ten attacks from rocket salvo systems, the General Staff wrote.

Ukraine’s military added it had carried out 16 strikes on temporary Russian bases and Russian air defense systems.

Bild: Zelensky, Zaluzhnyi have conflicting views on Bakhmut

The Kyiv Independent