Ukraine prepares counterattack as Russia’s siege on Bakhmut slows

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 in what it calls a "special military operation," saying Ukraine's ties to the West were a security threat.

Ukrainian troops, on the defensive for months, will soon counterattack as Russia’s offensive looks to be faltering, a commander said, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that without a faster supply of arms the war could last years.

The Ukrainian military said early on Friday that 1,020 Russian troops had been killed over the previous 24 hours as they launched unsuccessful attacks on the towns of Lyman, Avdiivka, Mariinka, and Shakhtarske. But their main focus was still the mining town of Bakhmut.

“The enemy has not stopped its assault of Bakhmut,” Ukraine’s General Staff in a report.

Russian forces have for months been trying to capture Bakhmut as they seek to extend their control over eastern Ukraine, in Europe’s deadliest infantry battle since the Second World War.

Ukrainian forces have held them off, as they did again in Avdiivka, Mariinka and Shakhtarske, among the 80 Russian attacks that Ukrainian defenders repelled over the past day, the military said.

There was no immediate word from Russia on the latest fighting and Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports.

Ukraine’s top ground forces commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said earlier his forces would soon begin a counter offensive after withstanding Russia’s winter campaign.

He said Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, who have been at the front of Moscow’s assault on eastern and southern Ukraine, “are losing considerable strength and are running out of steam.”