The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valery Zaluzhny, said on March 25 that Ukrainian troops are repelling Russian units: “Thanks to the titanic efforts of the Defense Forces, the situation in Bakhmut is stabilizing,” the General said. . said. Valery Zaluzhny announced this in a post on Telegram. British military intelligence believes that the Russian military appears to be moving towards a defensive strategy in eastern Ukraine, but “the leadership of Bakhmut remains the most difficult”.
The seven-month-long battle for Bakhmut, surrounded by Russian troops on three sides, is the longest confrontation in the current war, in which Russia has involved both regular units and militants from Wagner’s PMC. Russian troops are seeking to penetrate deeper into the Donetsk region via Bakhmut, but Western officials believe that capturing the city would have a very limited impact on the course of the war.
The UK Defense Intelligence Agency tweeted that “Russia’s offensive against Bakhmut in Donbass is largely stalled. This is likely mainly the result of the extreme exhaustion of the Russian Armed Forces.
Russia is expected to turn its attention to the other two sectors, which “suggests a general return to a more defensive operational plan after failed attempts to launch a general offensive since January.”
Pavel Kirilenko, governor of the Donetsk region in which Bakhmut is located, said one civilian was killed in fighting in Bakhmut on March 24. Two people were killed and six were injured as a result of Russian shelling of the southern Kherson region, the local administration said. The strikes in Kramatorsk last night caused no casualties.
