Russia is losing from 50 to 100 soldiers each day in the battle of Bakhmut amid its desperate attempts to capture the city in the eastern Donetsk Oblast, a military spokesman said on Dec. 4.
For months, Russia has massed troops and equipment to surround and capture Bakhmut in a brutal campaign participated by the Russian state-backed military company Wagner Group.
“It’s a very difficult situation” but Ukrainian forces are holding out against the attacks, according to Cherevaty.
Moscow doesn’t publish its military casualties. It has not publicly commented on Ukraine’s estimate of its casualty rate in the Bakhmut sector.
Once home to 70,000 people, the salt-mining city of Bakhmut has become the center of the battle in the east of Ukraine in August. It is located on a main road to Kramatorsk and Sloviansk – key cities in Donetsk Oblast that Moscow aims to capture despite its stalled progress.
Following the Russian Defense Ministry’s earlier report of capturing two Ukrainian settlements near Bakhmut, the U.K. Defense Ministry said on Dec. 3 that Russia had “highly likely” made small gains south of the city in recent days.
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