Russia on Saturday said its forces remained in control of villages near the shattered city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, dismissing a Ukrainian claim to have recaptured the locality of Andriivka, a stepping stone to the larger city.
The commander of Ukraine’s land forces posted a video purporting to show the capture of Andriivka amid a landscape of scorched territory and devastation.
And a top military spokesperson said Ukrainian troops were making headway in both the east and south – the two main theatres of Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the 18-month-old war against Russian invaders.
The account of fighting by Russia’s defence ministry said its troops were still holding at least two key villages south of Bakhmut, known in Russia by its Soviet-era name, Artyomovsk.
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“The enemy did not abandon plans to capture the city of Artyomovsk of the Donetsk People’s Republic and continued to conduct assault operations . . . unsuccessfully trying to oust Russian troops from the population centres of Klishchiivka and Andriivka,” the ministry said in its daily briefing.
Andriivka lies south of largely-ruined Bakhmut, a mainly symbolic prize that Russian forces seized in May after the fiercest and longest battle since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The report said Russian forces had, in the past week, repelled 16 Ukrainian attacks, with enemy losses at more than 1,700 dead and wounded, along with 16 tanks.
Ukrainian General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of land forces, posted a video on Telegram that he said provided evidence Kyiv's forces were in full control of Andriivka.
The video shows Ukrainian soldiers advancing on empty devastated ground marked by the burned remnants of trees and taking cover in the shattered hulks of buildings reduced to rubble. Another video showed trucks driving at high speed down a deserted road.
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said the Bakhmut sector was the theatre of “the most active fighting”.
“Offensive action is continuing south of Bakhmut. Things are hot in Klishchiivka and Kurdiumivka,” Ms Maliar said on Telegram, referring to two other villages near the city. “Near Klishchiivka, as a result of offensive action, our defence forces have had successes.”
Ukraine’s General Staff on Friday had reported the capture of Andriivka after days of uncertainty. It also reported “partial success” near Klishchiivka. Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield reports.
Ms Maliar also reported that Russian forces had unsuccessfully tried to push through Ukrainian defences near two villages northwest of Bakhmut.
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She said Ukrainian troops were holding their positions near two other cities further south subjected to heavy Russian attacks in recent days – Avdiivka and Maryinka.
In the south, where Ukraine’s forces aim to push to the Sea of Azov, Ms Maliar said Kyiv’s troops were “inflicting significant losses on the occupiers in terms of men and equipment”.
Ukraine hopes to sever a land bridge Russia has created between annexed Crimea and territory it holds in the east.
Meanwhile on Saturday, Ukrainian port authorities said two cargo vessels arrived in Ukraine, the first ships to use a temporary corridor to sail into Black Sea ports and load grain for African and Asian markets.
Ukraine last month announced a “humanitarian corridor” in the Black Sea to release ships trapped in its ports since the start of the war in February 2022 and to circumvent a de facto blockade after Russia abandoned a deal to let Kyiv export grain. Five vessels have so far left the port of Odesa, using the corridor which hugs the western Black Sea coast near Romania and Bulgaria.
Ukraine, a leading global food producer and exporter, also wants to use the corridor for its food exports. The Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, in a post on Facebook, said the bulk carriers “Resilient Africa” and “Aroyat” had arrived in the port of Chernomorsk.
They were due to load almost 20,000 tonnes of wheat for Africa and Asia, deputy prime minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said earlier. Ukraine’s agriculture ministry said on the Telegram messaging app that the wheat would be shipped to Egypt and Israel. “While the UN is not involved in the movement of those vessels, we welcome all efforts for the resumption of normal trade, especially of vital food commodities that help supply and stabilize global food markets,” a UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
“We continue our efforts to facilitate exports for agricultural products from both Ukraine and the Russian Federation.”
The loadings are a test of Ukraine’s ability to reopen shipping lanes at a time when Russia is trying to re-impose its de facto blockade, having abandoned the grain deal in July. Moscow has launched frequent drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian grain export infrastructure.
The Black Sea grain deal was brokered by the UN and Turkey in July 2022 to combat a global food crisis worsened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine and Russia are among the world’s top grain exporters. Ukraine made several attacks in recent days using sea drones and missiles on Russia’s Black Sea naval fleet in and around the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed from Ukraine by Russia in 2014. – Reuters