In his daily address to the nation, Zelensky took up the fighting in Bakhmut, a city located in eastern Ukraine, where a months-long war has been raging that has seen heavy casualties on both sides.
However, Zelensky said that since March 6, “more than 1,100 enemy soldiers have died, irreparable losses for Russia” and more than 1,500 have been seriously wounded in the Pakmut zone alone.
According to the Ukrainian president, Kiev forces destroyed more than ten Russian ammunition depots and dozens of military units.
On Saturday, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War revealed that Russian forces and mercenaries from the Kremlin-linked Wagner group were continuing ground attacks, but there were no signs of ground advances in Pakmut.
The information from the American organization came after official British security sources said that operatives of Group Wagner had already captured much of Bagmut’s eastern flank, with the Bagmutka River now representing the front line of the fighting.
The six-month battle for the Ukrainian city of Bagmut in the Donetsk region was the longest and bloodiest battle in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
For the Kremlin, seizing Pakmut is vital to achieving its stated goal of taking full control of Donetsk, one of the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed in September.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24, 2022, has plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Information about the war in Ukraine released by both sides in the conflict could not be immediately independently confirmed.