Military personnel take part in a funeral ceremony to bury the remains of 60 service members of the Russian armed forces and three civilians, who were killed in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, at a cemetery in Luhansk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, May 18, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
NEAR BAKHMUT, Ukraine — The Ukrainian military and Russia’s Wagner private army both reported further Russian retreats around the city of Bakhmut on Thursday, as Kyiv pressed on with its biggest advance for six months ahead of a planned counteroffensive.
Ukrainian troops near the front line said Russia was bombarding access roads to slow the Ukrainian assault, which has shifted the momentum after months of slow Russian gains in Europe’s deadliest ground combat since World War Two.
“Now, for the most part, as we have started to advance, they are shelling all the routes to front positions, so our armored vehicles can’t deliver more infantry, ammunition, and other things,” said Petro Podaru, commander of a Ukrainian artillery unit.
Ukraine’s military said troops had advanced in places by more than a mile. Its forces had been on the defensive for half a year, weathering a huge offensive by Moscow that saw only slow gains.
“Despite the fact that our units do not have an advantage in equipment … and personnel, they have continued to advance on the flanks, and covered a distance of 150 to 1,700 meters (1.1 miles),” military spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi said in televised comments.
READ: Ukraine reports new advances near eastern city of Bakhmut
Ukraine’s gains have been accompanied by a deepening public split within Russia’s forces between Wagner, which has led the Bakhmut campaign, and the regular Russian military.
The blasted ruins of Bakhmut, described by both sides as a “meat grinder,” would be Moscow’s only prize for its huge winter offensive that failed elsewhere along the front.
Kyiv says it has launched local advances around Bakhmut as a prelude to an upcoming big counteroffensive that it hopes will turn the tide against Russia’s 15-month-old invasion.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin says his forces inside Bakhmut itself are still advancing, on the cusp of pushing Ukrainian troops out of their last foothold in the built-up area on the city’s western outskirts.
READ: Wagner head offered to reveal Russian troop locations to Ukraine – Washington Post
But he accuses commanders of Russia’s regular forces of abandoning ground north and south of the city, raising the risk of troops inside being encircled.
“Unfortunately, units of the Russian Defense Ministry have withdrawn up to 570 meters (1,880 feet) to the north of Bakhmut, exposing our flanks,” Prigozhin said in his latest voice message on Thursday.
“I am appealing to the top leadership of the Ministry of Defense – publicly – because my letters are not being read,” Prigozhin said, addressing Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
“Please do not give up the flanks.”
The Russian defense ministry has acknowledged some withdrawals from positions near Bakhmut over the past week but denies Prigozhin’s assertions that flanks are crumbling, or that it has withheld ammunition from Wagner.
Falling into ‘the mousetrap’
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Russia had pushed reserves into Bakhmut and battles had raged in its northern and southern suburbs all day. But the Russians had been repelled and her forces had advanced, by her estimate by about a kilometer in some areas.
“We are buying time for certain planned actions,” Maliar said on her Telegram channel. Reuters could not confirm her account.
READ: Russia says Ukraine made ‘mass attempts’ to break through Bakhmut defenses
Kyiv says its tactic around Bakhmut is to draw Russian forces into the city, so as to weaken Russia’s front line defenses elsewhere ahead of Kyiv’s planned counterassault.
FILE PHOTO: A Ukrainian service member from a 3rd separate assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, fire a howitzer D30 at a front line, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near the city of Bakhmut, Ukraine April 23, 2023. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova
“Wagner troops climbed into Bakhmut like rats into a mousetrap,” Oleksander Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, told troops at the Bakhmut front in video he released this week on social media.
“Using the principle of active defense, we resort to counteroffensive actions in some directions near Bakhmut. The enemy has more resources, but we are destroying his plans.”
With Kyiv’s counteroffensive looming, Russia has resumed missile and drone strikes across Ukraine this month after a near two-month lull. Waves of attacks now come several times a week, the most intense pace of the war.
READ: Russians pound frontline positions in Bakhmut, Ukraine military says
On Thursday, air raid sirens sounded overnight, black smoke filled the sky over Kyiv and one person was reported killed in the southern city of Odesa. Ukraine said it shot down 29 of 30 incoming missiles. Moscow claimed to have hit military targets.
Russia has also been experiencing attacks and explosions both in Ukrainian territory it controls and in Russian territory near the border. Officials in Russian-occupied Crimea reported a freight train had been derailed overnight by “interference.” Kyiv never confirms any role in incidents there.
READ: Kyiv weathers ‘unprecedented’ wave of Russian missiles
On the diplomatic front, leaders of the G7 group of big developed countries were meeting in Japan where they are expected to unveil tighter measures to close off Russia’s opportunities to bypass financial sanctions.
United States President Joe Biden and Japan’s Fumio Kishida met for talks in Hiroshima, aiming for closer cooperation in the face of both an unpredictable Russia and ascendant China.
A US Senate aide and a defense official said on Thursday the Pentagon had overvalued U.S. equipment it sent to Ukraine by around $3 billion, an error that opens up the possibility of more weapons being sent to Kyiv.
READ: G7 leaders to target Russian energy, trade in new sanctions steps -sources
On Wednesday, Moscow agreed to a two-month extension of a deal safeguarding exports of Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports despite the war. Russia had threatened to abandon the deal unless it received additional guarantees protecting its own grain and fertilizer exports.
However, a Ukrainian official said the corridor had not yet resumed while Russia said more progress was needed to advance its interests.