Ukraine says Russia trying to recapture land around Bakhmut, Kyiv repels attacks

Ukraine said on Friday Russian forces were trying to recapture land they had lost around the devastated eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, but that Ukrainian troops were repelling the attacks.

Deputy Ukrainian Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said the Russian forces had gained some ground inside Bakhmut itself in fierce fighting but did not control the city.

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"The enemy is trying to regain what they have lost... but our forces are repulsing the attacks," she said in televised remarks. "It's very difficult to carry out combat missions there and every metre (of advance) is like 10 kilometres in other conditions."

She said the Russian forces had made "some progress" inside Bakhmut but did not say how far forward they had advanced.

The head of Russian mercenaries fighting in Bakhmut said the city was unlikely to fall in the next two days. Ukrainian soldiers, he said, were holed up in a makeshift "fortress" in the south of the city.

Moscow regards its assault on Bakhmut, a city of about 70,000 before Russia's full-scale invasion nearly 15 months ago, as an important part of a campaign to capture the rest of the industrial Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.