“The biggest difficulties, as before, are in Pakmut. Russia does not count its men and constantly sends them to attack our positions. The intensity of the fighting increases”, the Ukrainian president added. Before the start of the war a year ago, Pakmut had about 70,000 inhabitants. Within the ruined city are thousands of residents.
Russian state agency RIA released a video on Tuesday showing a Russian Su-25 fighter jet over Pakmut.
The Ukrainian president said Ukraine would continue to defend Bagmut, but not at any cost, acknowledging the situation was “tense and difficult” for Ukrainian troops in the region on Monday night.
On Saturday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group, said it had captured the Yakutne region north of Pakmut.
Over the past year, the Russians have managed to cut off several key routes to resupply Ukrainian troops.
Russian forces’ capture of the small mining town would pave the way for the capture of the last urban centers in Donetsk province.
On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was ready for peace talks, but Ukraine and its Western allies would have to accept the annexation of Russia’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. Following the September 2022 referendum, most Western countries considered it illegal.
Ukraine’s military revealed on Tuesday that its forces had repelled 85 Russian attacks on various fronts, although most of the attacks by Moscow troops were centered on Baghmut and other locations in Donetsk.
In a regular evening speech, Zelensky also insisted that Ukrainian forces were “controlling the situation” in the north and on the border.
“We are preparing for the return of our soldiers to serious liberation operations on our soil. We remind you that our goal is absolutely legitimate and we are getting closer to its achievement every day,” he added.
This Wednesday, air warning sirens sounded in the Ukrainian capital and Mykolaiv region. In Kharkiv province, two people were injured in Suhui following shelling by Russian troops.
w/ agencies
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