Live updates: Russia’s war in Ukraine, plan for tactical nukes in Belarus

Russian and Ukrainian forces are locked in the “most intense phase” of the battle for control of Bakhmut, with both sides locked in a fierce standoff as Moscow attempts to capture the city after failing to make major gains elsewhere. Is.

According to the Defense Ministry, the commander of Ukraine’s land forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, made the decision “with the aim of strengthening” Kiev’s forces in order to “detain and defeat the enemy”.

The ministry said that Sirski “took a number of measures to address problematic issues that impede the effective performance of combat missions.”

The exact status of the battle for the city is unclear following unverified claims by Russia’s private military group Wagner profit made in Bakhmut, despite suggestions from Ukrainian officials that Moscow is running out of electricity.

Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesman for the Eastern Group of Armed Forces, said on Sunday that Ukraine had “enough forces to hold the front line.”

Cherevati also said that the intensity of the Russian attacks had decreased. On Saturday, he said there had been 18 separate attacks in an attempt to advance in the Bakhmut area, with the number up to 50 in recent days. But the same heavy shelling continued.

The Institute for the Study of War said in its latest battlefield assessment that Wagner’s efforts to break through the Ukrainian defenses in the eastern cities of Bakhmut and Avdivka “have so far failed.”