Ukrainian soldiers are defending the eastern industrial town of Bakhmut as Moscow-backed separatist forces in the war-battered Donetsk region advance after recapturing a series of villages nearby.
Bakhmut — a wine-producing and salt-mining town, on the main road from Donetsk to the capital Kyiv, once home to 70,000 people — would be a major prize if Russia has any hope of securing the region after invading Ukraine in February.
