Kyiv said Sunday that Ukrainian forces had captured more than ten Russian positions on the outskirts of the frontline city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.
“Today our units have captured more than ten enemy positions in the northern and southern outskirts of Bakhmut,” Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said on social media.
“Enemy soldiers of various units have been captured,” she said.
“Anyone who knows the real situation and is there now understands the gravity of what is happening,” Malyar added.
She said that “fierce” fighting continued in Bakhmut, located in the eastern region of Donetsk, and that Russians were trying to advance and destroying “everything” on their way.
The Russian mercenary group Wagner has been leading the assault for Bakhmut, and its chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has accused some regular Russian troops of abandoning their positions.
After months of stalemate, Kyiv has been preparing to retake ground in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the south.