Ukraine and Russia trade places in battle for Bakhmut

Bakhmut has increasingly been the focal point of the war this year although 10 months of fighting has reduced it to ruins [File: Press Service of the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Machanised Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Reuters]

Russia’s Wagner Group claims to have captured Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine this week, but the government in Kyiv says it intends to recapture the ruined city after surrounding it.

“We continue to advance on the flanks in the suburbs of Bakhmut and are actually approaching the capture of the city in a tactical encirclement,” overall ground forces commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said as Ukrainian forces added that they had recaptured 4sq km (1.5sq miles) of territory