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Ukraine has accused Russian forces of deploying the kind of war tactics used in Syria to level Bakhmut, as heavy fighting for control of the salt mining city continues.
“The aggressor has concentrated his main efforts in the direction of Bakhmut and is trying to dislodge our units from [their] positions,” Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maylar said in an update on Telegram last night.
“Using the so-called ‘Syrian tactics’ of total destruction of buildings and structures, the enemy in some places has [made] progress at the expense of destroyed objects.”
It comes as Russian forces are accused of “forcibly evacuating” civilians and “trying to steal as much as they can” in the Kherson region.
After a lull following Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson city, renewed fierce fighting is expected in the region now that Ukrainian troops have advanced to secure positions on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River.
Away from the war’s frontlines, Moscow has warned that risks of a direct military confrontation between the two nuclear superpowers, Russia and the United States, are steadily growing.