Ukraine, Russia Locked In Brutal Battle In Bakhmut With Casualties Mounting

Ukrainian forces were subjected to relentless Russian attacks on Bakhmut in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, with both sides reporting mounting enemy casualties as they battled across a small river that bisects the ruined town and now marks the front line.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late Sunday that his forces had killed over 1,100 Russian soldiers in the last few days while fighting for control of Bakhmut.

“We managed to kill more than 1,100 enemy soldiers in the Bakhmut sector alone in less than a week, starting on 6 March, Russia's irreversible loss, right there, near Bakhmut,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

According to Zelenskiy, Russian forces suffered 1,500 “sanitary losses” or soldiers who were injured severely enough to keep them from fighting.

He claimed that dozens of pieces of enemy equipment, as well as more than ten Russian ammunition depots, were destroyed.

Russia's defence ministry announced earlier in the day that its forces had killed more than 220 Ukrainian service members in the Donetsk direction in the previous 24 hours.

Ukraine forces control the west of the nearly deserted mining town of Bakhmut, while Russia's Wagner mercenary group controls the majority of the east, with the Bakhmutka River, which runs through the town, marking the front line, according to a weekend update from British intelligence.

Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin described the situation in Bakhmut as “tough, very tough” on Sunday.

“The closer we get to the city centre, the more difficult the fighting becomes... The Ukrainians have an endless supply of reserves. But we are and will continue to advance,” In an audio statement released by his press service, Prigozhin said.

He also claimed that Russian army personnel assisted his troops with ammunition.

“We received 15 truckloads yesterday and 12 today. I believe they will continue to arrive and there was no fighting between his fighters and Russian troops,” he added.

Prigozhin had previously claimed that Russia's top brass was deliberately depriving his troops of ammunition, an allegation that the defence ministry denied.

Prigozhin stated that once Bakhmut is apprehended, Wagner will “reboot” and begin hiring, adding that he wants to transform his private military company into an “army with an ideology” that will fight for justice in Russia.

Wagner has already established recruitment centres in 42 cities in order to replenish its ranks.