Ukrainian Forces Continue To Repel Russian Attacks On Key Donbas City Of Bakhmut
According to RFE/RL, Ukrainian military forces have continued to foil Russian attempts to break through around the strategic city of Bakhmut to extend control over the Donbas region.
Having taken Syevyerodonetsk and Lysychansk weeks ago, Russian forces have focused on the key city of Bakhmut.
The town -- which had an estimated 70,000 residents before Russia launched its unprovoked full invasion on February 24 -- was shelled again on August 27, as were nearby Soldedar and Zaitseve, according to a Ukrainian military report.
It said Ukraine halted advances near two other major towns, Slovyansk and Kramatorsk.
An RFE/RL correspondent reporting from Slovyansk posted video of the aftermath of the overnight Russian shelling, showing destroyed and charred balconies and shattered windows of a five-story apartment building. Nearby buildings also suffered damage as well.
No casualties were reported in the Slovyansk attack, our correspondent reported.
The Ukrainian military also said its forces holding out in the coal-producing town of Avdiyivka had managed to repel a Russian assault despite enemy artillery and air strikes.
Near the key southern city of Kherson, which has been occupied by Russian forces since early in the war, Ukrainian troops said they attacked three Russian command posts and at least two ammunition depots in the region.
The Ukrainian Army said its forces killed 11 Russian soldiers and destroyed 11 rocket launchers, three armored vehicles, and a self-propelled howitzer.
Details could not immediately be verified, but Russian-appointed administration chief Volodymyr Leontyev confirmed the Ukrainian attacks to Russian news agencies, saying the city of Nova Kakhovka had been shelled four times.
Shelling and heavy artillery fire near towns and a city near the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant were also reported, as fears persisted that fighting in the vicinity could damage Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and cause a radiation leak.
Heavy firing during the night left parts of Nikopol without electricity, said regional Governor Valentyn Reznichenko
Reznichenko said that a 67-year-old woman was killed and four people were injured by Russian shelling and that houses, power lines, and gas pipelines had been damaged.
Rocket strikes damaged about a dozen residences in Marhanets, according to Yevhen Yevtushenko, the administration head for the district that includes the city of about 45,000.
