Ukrainian President, Volodimir Zelensky, visited Bakhmut this Tuesday, a city that Russian forces have been trying to take for months and that represents a critical point of the Ukrainian Eastern Frontreported its press service.
“He met with the military, spoke with them and decorated our soldiers”, indicated the source, without providing further details.
Although Zelensky regularly visits frontline areas, his visit to Bakhmutin it Donbasseems the most risky of all the trips he has made.
“Zelensky in Bakhmut. The bravest president of the bravest nation”, commented the deputy prime minister, Mikhailo Fedorovon Telegram.
In his late-night speech on Tuesday, in which he did not confirm his trip, the president described Bakhmut as “the hottest spot on the entire front”.
“Since May, the occupiers have been trying to break our Bakhmut, but time is passing, and Bakhmut is breaking not only the Russian army, but also the russian mercenaries who came to replace the wasted army of the occupiers,” Zelensky said.
Mercenaries of the wagner groupa shadowy Russian military company, lead the assault on Bakhmutaccording to reports.
“I thank all the fighters who heroically maintain the leadership of Bakhmut, Soledar, Avdiivka, Maryinka, Kreminna and the entire Donbas region, one of the strongest in Ukraine before the arrival of Russia, which Russia is destroying to the ground. Such cruelty will not give the enemy anything,” added the Ukrainian president.
Earlier this month, Zelensky had said that Russian efforts to conquer Bakhmut they had reduced to ruins the Ukrainian city. “The occupiers have destroyed Bakhmut, another town in Donbas that the Russian army turned into charred ruins,” he said.
since the summer, the russians try to control Bakhmutonce known for its vineyards and its salt mines. Before Russia invaded the Ukraine in February, he had about 70,000 inhabitants.
In recent months, both sides have recorded significant losses in fighting that took place around that town.
Russian troops claimed the capture of towns and areas located near Bakhmut but the municipality, and part of its surroundings, appear to be controlled by Ukrainian forces. This has frustrated Moscow’s efforts to seize the entire province of Donetskpart of the Donbas region that borders Russia.
“Russian forces reportedly lost positions south of Bakhmut on December 18 and continued their ground attacks near Bakhmut and the city of Donetsk,” the US-based think tank Institute for the Study of War said in its daily report on Monday.
Taking Bakhmut would break the Ukrainian supply routes and would open an avenue for Russian forces to press Kramatorsk Y Sloviansk, crucial Ukrainian strongholds in the province. Russian-backed separatists control part of Donetsk and the neighboring province of luhansk since 2014.
(With information from AFP and AP)
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Source-www.infobae.com