Ukraine:Over 500 Russian Troops Killed, Wounded last 24 hrs at Bakhmut

Bakhmut: Ukraine military has claimed to have killed over 500 Russian troops in the last recent 24-hours during the battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut; a Ukrainian military spokesman said on last night.

Moscow forces have been fighting for months to take Bakhmut, in the eastern Donbas region. Both sides admitted significant losses and the exact numbers are difficult to verify.

Serhiy Cherevaty, a military spokesman for forces in the east, said the Russians had launched 16 attacks over a 24-hour period, with 23 clashes taking place in Bakhmut.

“Over the course of the fighting, 221 enemies were killed and 314 sustained injuries of various degrees,” he told the national parliament’s television channel.

Newsmen in the area were not immediately able to verify the claim.

An aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that Kyiv had decided to fight on in Bakhmut because the battle is grinding down Russia’s best units.

Moscow says capturing Bakhmut would punch a hole in Ukrainian defenses and be a step toward seizing all of the Donbas industrial region, a major target.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February last year, tens of thousands have been killed, millions displaced and many Ukrainian cities and towns pulverized to heaps of dust and rabble. (This story is published from a syndicated feed. -feature image credit ET)