Russian forces in Bakhmut are “trapped” and the city is under Ukrainian fire control, Kyiv officials said on Monday afternoon.
Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Malyar said Ukrainian troops had captured key heights around the eastern city, as the country pushes ahead with its counteroffensive.
She added that Kyiv's troops had over the past few days established fire control over “entrances, exits and movement of the enemy around the city.”
“During the process of advancing, our troops took control of key commanding heights around Bakhmut,” Malyar said on Telegram.
In a similar statement on Monday, the commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrsky, said Russian forces in Bakhmut were “trapped” and the city is “now under the fire control of the Defense Forces,” meaning all points in Bakhmut are in the range of Kyiv’s artillery.
Syrsky added: “Aerial reconnaissance has identified the positions of the Russians with ATGMs.
“The soldiers of the 77th separate airmobile brigade have effectively engaged and neutralized the Russian troops.”
The operations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Bakhmut are ongoing, and the Russian army is attempting to break out of their positions in this direction, added Syrsky.
Ukraine earlier on Monday said its forces had recaptured 14 square kilometers (five square miles) from occupying Russian forces in the south and east of the country over the last week.
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“Over 10 square kilometers of Ukrainian land had been recaptured in the south of Ukraine last week,” Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Kovalyov told state media.
“In the Bakhmut sector last week, the Ukrainian military liberated four square kilometers of territory from the Russian invaders,” Kovalyov said.
Kyiv says it has recaptured a total of 193 square kilometers since launching its counteroffensive in early June. Ukraine launched the highly anticipated counteroffensive after stockpiling Western weapons and building up its offensive forces.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that the slow delivery of promised arms was delaying Kyiv’s counteroffensive and called on the United States and other allies to provide long-range weapons and artillery.
He has voiced hope for the “best possible result” from a NATO summit due to start Tuesday in Vilnius.
Elsewhere, relatives of Russian servicemen are complaining that their loved ones have been “left in hell” without sufficient weapons, food or even uniforms to replace Wagner fighters recently withdrawn from Bakhmut.
In an appeal posted on social media and reported by the local Russian media outlet Ostorozhno Novosti, family members of soldiers from Russia’s 1428th regiment claim they have “no decent uniforms or weapons – only assault rifles and shovels.”
“They drop them down near [Bakhmut] completely unprepared to replace the Wagner PMC.”
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