Eight dead in Sloviansk strike as Ukrainians said to pull back in Bakhmut

On Friday, a Russian missile strike killed eight people in eastern Ukraine, and a British assessment indicated Ukrainian troops had been forced to retreat from sections of Bakhmut, the focus of Moscow’s steady assault.

Ukrainian troops, battered by months of fire and airstrikes, have defended Bakhmut. This week, Ukrainian military commanders dismissed Russian claims that they controlled 80% of the city.

In Sloviansk, a city west of Bakhmut that Russia wants to conquer, missile strikes on apartment complexes and other targets killed eight and injured 21, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told national media. Seven rockets were launched.

One building’s two top floors collapsed, and rescuers found a 70-year-old woman. According to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office, a rescued youngster died on the route to the hospital.

“The evil state once again demonstrates its essence,” Zelenskiy posted on Telegram with footage of the wrecked structure. “Killing people in daylight. “Destroying life.”

The strike was one of many civilian-targeted attacks in the almost year-old war. Russia has frequently denied targeting civilian areas.

Reviving Bakhmut assault
Britain’s military assessment stated Russia had been pouring in new resources to conquer Bakhmut, which Moscow sees as a stepping stone to capturing further land in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, a major war goal.

Western nations have cited the Russian defense ministry’s (MoD) conflict with Wagner as a major weakness.

“Russia has re-energised its assault on the Donetsk Oblast town of Bakhmut as forces of the Russian MoD and Wagner Group have improved co-operation,” Britain’s military said in a daily briefing note.

“Ukrainian forces face significant resupply issues but have made orderly withdrawals from positions they have been forced to concede.”

Ukrainian artillerymen near Bakhmut loaded shells into a Soviet-era howitzer and fired toward the front line, where they claimed Russia had massed its foot forces.

“Our target there is largely infantry. “The Russian Federation’s ‘human factor’ is concentrated,” said Dmytro, 44, the artillery unit’s commander. The unit fired three shells to find range and correct aim, thundering the gun.
“The third is concluding. I hope the soldier they saw was killed.”

Russia’s winter onslaught has targeted Bakhmut, which had 70,000 people before the war, but it has made little progress despite intense infantry ground warfare not seen in Europe since World War Two.

The British bulletin claimed the Ukrainians held western areas of the town but had been under heavy Russian artillery fire for 48 hours.

It added Wagner mercenary soldiers were now marching in Bakhmut’s center while Russian paratroopers relieved them in flank strikes.

The Institute for the Study of War think tank reported that geolocated footage showed Russian soldiers had advanced west into central Bakhmut the day before and made “marginal advances” in the south and southwest.

Russia’s first major success in eight months would be taking the city.

Zelenskiy claimed in his nightly video address that the goal was “the destruction of the occupiers (and) the depletion of their resources.”

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said “fruitful meetings this week” had won $5 billion in new money to battle Russia in Washington.

On the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings, Shmyhal met with representatives of the IMF, World Bank, and European Investment Bank, as well as top U.S. officials.

Despite a strong Russian attack, the front lines have not moved for five months after major Ukrainian breakthroughs in the second half of 2022.

Moscow used hundreds of thousands of newly conscripted reservists and thousands of jailed mercenaries. Kyiv has primarily defended its trenches while awaiting more Western armaments for an expected counter-offensive in coming months.

Wagner’s creator, Yevgeny Prigozhin, wrote on Telegram that Ukraine must launch its expected counter-offensive soon or “gradually lose their combative potential.”

Bakhmut benefits us. “We restrain the Ukrainian army there,” he stated.