‘Everywhere, things are hot’: Ukraine battles Russian onslaught

Kyiv’s forces are fighting a fierce onslaught by Russian troops in parts of northeastern Ukraine, even as they make advances in the area around Bakhmut and in the south, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister has said, describing the situation as “complicated”.

Hanna Maliar said that Russian troops were advancing near Avdiivka, Marinka, Lyman and Svatove.

“Fierce fighting is going on everywhere,” Maliar wrote on social media on Sunday, adding: “The situation is quite complicated”.

Russian accounts of the front-line fighting reported success in containing Ukrainian troops in the northeast and said its forces had pushed back Ukrainian attacks near villages ringing Bakhmut and in areas further south, particularly the strategic hilltop town of Vuhlear.

Ukraine’s military has been engaged in a counteroffensive to recapture areas of the east and south seized by Russia since it began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Initial Ukrainian advances have focused on taking back clusters of villages in the south, but have so far failed to produce a major breakthrough.

Maliar said Ukrainian troops were advancing with “partial success” on the southern flank of Bakhmut in the east and near Berdyansk and Melitopol in the south.

In the south, she said Ukrainian forces faced “intense enemy resistance, remote mining, deploying of reserves” and were only advancing “gradually”.

“Everywhere, things are hot,” she said.

General Oleksander Tarnavskiy, responsible for the southern front, said Ukrainian forces were “systematically destroying the enemy” and reported the deaths of several hundred Russian forces over the last 24 hours.