UK Defense Ministry Says Russian Military And Wagner Forces Increased Infantry Assaults Around Bakhmut
In mid-December, Russian military and Wagner proxy forces likely increased the frequency of their infantry assaults around the Donetsk Oblast town of Bakhmut, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday, adding however, many of these operations were poorly supported.
“Over the last ten days, Ukraine has committed significant reinforcements to defend the sector and the frequency of Russian assaults have likely reduced from the peak in mid-December,” Defense Ministry said.
According to the British Defense Ministry, both sides have suffered high casualties.
In a Defense Intelligence update, the Ministry said that Russian offensive operations in the area are now likely being conducted at only platoon or section level.
“It is unlikely Russia will achieve a significant breakthrough near Bakhmut in the coming weeks,” the Ministry said.
Relatedly, RFE/RL is reporting that the Russian military continued to launch attacks on mostly civilian targets in Ukraine over the past 24 hours, citing a Ukrainian military daily update.
In that same article, RFE/RL reported that the General Staff of the Ukraine Armed Forces said Ukrainian forces had targeted Russian military forces in Chulakivka, a town in the Kherson region.
According to the Ukrainian military, some 500 Russian military personnel were either killed or wounded in the Ukrainian military action on December 31, RFE/RL reported, however Russia’s Defense Ministry said those numbers are an exaggeration.
As reported by VOA on Monday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that 63 of its troops were killed on New Year’s Eve in Ukrainian missile strikes on their quarters in the town of Makiivka in the Russian-controlled part of the Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
VOA said the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that, “Ukraine hit the Makiivka site with four of the six rockets fired from the precision High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) that the United States has dispatched to Ukraine’s forces. Russia said it shot down two of the incoming missiles.”