The battle for the besieged town of Bakhmut in Donbass has intensified, with a senior Ukrainian commander saying the Russians deployed units from the Wagner mercenary group to break through the defences. Colonel Oleksandr Syrsky described the situation in the city as “extremely tense”. On the other side of the border, Russian authorities have raised the alert level after drone sightings in several parts of the country in recent hours.
“Despite heavy casualties, the enemy has launched Wagner’s best-prepared assault units, which are trying to break through our troops’ defenses and encircle the city,” Sirskyi explained in a Telegram message. The night before, President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged that the situation in Bakhmut was “increasingly difficult”, with “the enemy constantly destroying everything that can be used to defend Ukrainian positions”. The leader had said in early February that he wanted to defend the city “as long as possible”, but hinted it would only be to the last man.
On the Russian side, the man appointed by the Kremlin to run Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, said “that Ukraine has lost Bakhmut is self-evident, the only question is when it will happen”. Pushilin also announced that the mercenaries had “liberated the Stupki district”, on the northern edge of the pre-war city of 70,000.
The AFP report in a cellar in Bakhmut found a pessimistic soldier. “We’re all tense,” said the man answering for Fox. Wounded last year, he is now tasked with carrying supplies to the troops in the trenches and removing the wounded. Sitting on a bed with his assault rifle at his side, Fox complained of “lack of sleep, cold, rain, ever-changing weather, constant shelling, constant infantry attacks”.
Fox said it was difficult to make predictions, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to resist fierce Russian artillery attacks and bombardments. “We feel no support from our artillery. I think Bakhmut will most likely fall.’
For some observers, the city has no vital strategic value, but for Russia it would be a victory on the ground and a gateway to more important cities such as Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
Alarm in Russia
Russian leader Vladimir Putin ordered tighter border controls and the airspace around St Petersburg airport was closed for about three hours after reports of sightings of an unidentified object. The Defense Ministry said in a statement only that it had conducted “a training session with civilian air traffic control authorities” aimed at “the detection, interception and identification of a suspected intruder target”.
In addition, a drone crashed about 100 kilometers from Moscow, near a gas compressor station of Gazprom, near the city of Gubastovo. According to the governor, there was no damage or casualties to report and footage from the drone shows a Ukrainian-made model with a range of up to 800 kilometers, without the capacity to carry a large load of explosives.
In addition to the list, Russian forces are said to have shot down another Ukrainian drone over the Bryansk region and two in the south. “The regime in Kiev tried to attack with drones two centers of civilian infrastructure in the Krasnodar region and the Republic of Adygea,” but they were “neutralized,” he added. These events were preceded on Monday evening by the detection of three drones in the Belgorod region, close to the border. According to local authorities, the unmanned aircraft caused minor damage to buildings and cars.
This is not the first time Russia has claimed that Ukraine attacked its targets, from Belgorod to Crimea or even the Engels air base at Saratov, 400 miles from the border, where bombers were stationed. Kiev has never confirmed to have carried out these raids.
In addition to a tense day in Russia during what authorities called a hacking attack, the air raid disrupted the programming of several television and radio stations in several regions.
Source: DN
