Ukrainian forces continuously repulse Russian strikes on Bakhmut and other Donbas cities, and deny the Kremlin’s statements that 600 Ukrainian soldiers died in the strike, Reuters reports.
According to the report of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on the 8th of January, Russia carried out about a hundred different strikes. Ground attacks on 14 settlements, including Bakhmut, were also repelled. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Bakhmut was still under Ukrainian control. The nearby Soledar is also still under Ukrainian control, although, as the president said, the situation there is even worse.
Zelensky condemned Russia’s failure to honor its ceasefire during Orthodox Christmas and its attacks on Ukrainian cities.
«Russians were shelling Kherson with incendiary ammunition immediately after Christmas,»
the president added.
On the 8th of January, Russia announced that it had killed 600 Ukrainian soldiers in a missile attack in Kramatorsk, but Reuters journalists did not find any evidence of this statement at the scene. The attack was planned as revenge for New Year’s Eve in Makiivka, in which many Russian soldiers died. However, there is no indication that the dormitories were hit or seriously damaged. There were also no signs of soldiers living there, and no traces of blood or evidence of remains.
The representative of the eastern group of the Ukrainian army, Serhiy Cherevatyi, stated that Russia’s announcement about the dead was a demonstration to the public and an information campaign.
Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine is approaching the one-year mark, and public pressure is mounting on the Russian military, which has failed to demonstrate significant achievements on the battlefield. Militants are calling for more efforts after territory is lost and the army loses a huge number of soldiers.
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