Strain is mounting on Ukrainian troops holding out within the japanese metropolis of Bakhmut.
The Ukrainian military is making an attempt to assist civilians flee town, which Russian forces have spent months making an attempt to seize.
A lady was reportedly killed whereas two males had been severely wounded on Saturday as they had been making an attempt to flee over a makeshift bridge.
Western analysts say the Ukrainian army could also be mulling a managed pullout from town. UK army intelligence officers and a Washington-based suppose tank report that Ukraine has moved to destroy strategic bridges close to town.
A Russian victory in Bakhmut, with a pre-war inhabitants of about 70,000, would give it the primary main prize in a expensive winter offensive after it referred to as up lots of of hundreds of reservists final yr.
Russia says it might be a stepping stone to finishing the seize of the Donbas industrial area, one in every of Moscow’s most vital aims.
Earlier than the conflict, Bakhmut was recognized for salt and gypsum mines. Ukraine says town has little strategic worth, and the huge casualties Russia has suffered making an attempt to take Bakhmut may form the course of the battle.
