Over half of Ukraine’s Bakhmut has been destroyed, says Kyiv

Lviv, Ukraine, Jan 5 (EFE).- At least 60% of the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut has been destroyed amid fierce fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces, local authorities reported Thursday.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk region military administration, told local media that hostilities have devastated the strategic city, which used to have more than 70,000 inhabitants.

Ukrainians are being killed in the town every day due to Russian attacks, the latest of whom were two women who died amid artillery shelling on Wednesday, according to Kyrylenko.

“The enemy is pushed back to their previous positions, i.e. beyond the town limits… Our defenders bravely defend Bakhmut and prevent the enemy from advancing,” Kyrylenko wrote on Telegram.

“But, unfortunately, the town itself suffers from this, which is more than 60% destroyed. Constant shelling continues,” he added.

The Ukrainian city also suffers frequent outages of electricity and water, Kyrylenko pointed out.

Bakhmut is part of the Donetsk region, which was annexed by Russia in September together with Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia after holding referenda that have not been recognized internationally.

Although Moscow approved these annexations in its parliament, the army does not fully control any of the regions and was forced to withdraw from large areas in Kherson, including its administrative capital.EFE

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