Putin’s forces have fled Ukraine’s battlefield city Bakhmut ‘in bad order’ as Kyiv’s military recaptured ground in the besieged city, the Ministry of Defence has said.
Over the past seven days, Russian men have withdrawn from their positions on the southern flank of the city in the eastern Donetsk region, the ministry detailed, in what is viewed as a humiliating set back for the Kremlin. DailyMail reports.
Ukrainian forces are now understood to have regained at least a kilometer of territory ahead of a long-anticipated Ukrainian counter-offensive.
In further damning news for Putin’s forces, the ministry said it had intelligence Russia was dealing with a ‘severe shortage of credible combat units’.
Moscow acknowledged the military set backs on Friday, admitting that its forces had fallen back north of Bakhmut, in what was reported as the biggest Ukrainian gains in six months.
To add to Putin’s woes, it was reported that Russia had also ordered the evacuation of thousands of residents of the occupied Kharkiv region as the conflict appears to intensify even further.
‘Over the last four days, elements of Russia’s 72nd Separate Motor Rifle Brigade (72SMRB) likely withdrew in bad order from their positions on the southern flank of the Bakhmut operation. Ukrainian forces regained at least a kilometre of territory,’ the Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update on Friday.
The devastating setback for Russia suggests a coordinated push by Kyiv to encircle Russian forces in Bakhmut, Moscow’s main objective for months during the war’s bloodiest fighting.
Both sides are reporting the biggest Ukrainian gains in six months, although Ukraine has given few details and played down suggestions a huge, long-planned counteroffensive has officially begun.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner forces that have led the campaign in the city, said Ukrainians had seized high ground overlooking Bakhmut and opened the main highway leading into the city from the West.
