Russia Steps Up Eastern Ukraine Assault As US To Give Kyiv Weapons Training

Russia's forces have stepped up their assault around the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut and have probably captured the nearby town of Soledar, according to Ukrainian and UK officials, but are likely to be suffering significant losses in the process.

- Chris Stevenson

However, unlike Ukraine, Moscow cannot call upon the support of Western nations, the latest example of which involves training in the US to use the Patriot missile system that Washington has promised.

Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern forces, said the Russians were deploying their best Wagner mercenary fighters at Soledar, while the UK's Ministry of Defence said in a statement that the mercenary group, run by an ally of Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was likely now in control of the town. If the gain is confirmed, it will be the first significant one for Moscow since late summer.

Intense fighting was also said to be taking place in Bahkmut, also in the Donetsk region, with the battle for control of the city having already gone on for months. Ukraine's deputy defence minister, Hanna Malyar, said Russia has thrown "a large number of storm groups" into the fight for the city. "The enemy is advancing literally on the bodies of their own soldiers and is massively using artillery, rocket launchers and mortars, hitting their own troops," she said.

Taking Bakhmut would disrupt Ukraine's supply lines and open a route for Russian forces to press on toward Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. Pavlo Kyrylenko, the Donetsk region's Kyiv-appointed governor, yesterday described the Russian attacks on Soledar and Bakhmut as "relentless". The Russian army is reducing Ukrainian cities to rubble using all kinds of weapons in their scorched-earth tactics," Mr Kyrylenko said.