In addition, Ukrainian soldiers defending that stronghold in the Donetsk region have inflicted “at least 1,500 casualties” on the enemy.
The Russian Ministry of Defense, for its part, assured in its daily report that some 400 Ukrainian combatants were eliminated on different fronts in the framework of the offensive operations in the last day.
Every day is more difficult
“The situation around Bakhmut is still difficult,” admitted the commander of the Army, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Wagner’s assault units “are advancing from various directions, trying to break through our defenses and move towards the center” of the city, Syrskyi said on Telegram.
At the same time, he added that the defenders of Bakhmut “inflict significant losses on the enemy” and that all attempts by the Russians to capture the city “are repelled by artillery, tanks and other weapons.”
Also on the other side, the head of the Wagner mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, described the situation in Bakhmut on Monday as “very difficult” and assured that Ukraine is fighting “for every meter.”
“In Bakhmut the situation is very difficult, the adversary fights for every meter and the closer we get to the city center, the more bloody the fighting is,” Prigozhin was quoted as saying by his press service.
Fighters of the Russian paramilitary group reportedly occupied favorable positions in the industrial zone of the AZOM metallurgical plant in northwest Bakhmut over the weekend, according to Andrei Marochko, a representative of the Russian-imposed authorities in Lugansk.