4,500 civilians remain in Ukraine’s Bakhmut as brutal battle rages on

Kyiv, Mar 2 (EFE).- Some 4,500 residents remain in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, once home to 70,000, as fierce fighting between Russians and Ukrainians continued, Oleksiy Reva, the mayor of the battered eastern Ukrainian city, said on Thursday.

“There are heavy battles for our Bakhmut. It is painful to see what enemy shells are doing to the city, what they are turning a community into,” Reva wrote on Facebook.

The remaining residents are being provided with access to food, water and hygiene products, but “it is extremely dangerous in Bakhmut,” according to Reva.

“The enemy mercilessly destroys the city, cripples and kills civilians. As of today, the Russians have destroyed more than 4,400 residential buildings,” he added as he posted photos of streets and buildings completely destroyed by Russian strikes.

Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has been fighting Ukrainians to capture the city in the Donetsk region.

If Bakhmut falls, a path opens up for the Russian troops to transfer weapons and soldiers throughout eastern Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged that the battle against Russians in the key city has intensified and said he would send more troops to fight there.

More than 800 Russian troops have died since last week, Zelenskyy claimed, without specifying the number of fatalities among Ukrainians.EFE

int-rml/smq/jt