Russian troops are tactically unable to complete the operation to capture Bakhmut, the spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Serhiy Cherevatyy, has said on the air of the telethon.
According to him, today's actions of the Russians in the area of Bakhmut can hardly be called a strategic offensive operation.
"Now they are actually tactically unable to complete the operation to capture the Ukrainian district centre of Bakhmut. Yes, there are very active battles there, they still continue to carry out several dozen attacks by inertia, but they suffer huge losses," he said.
Cherevatyy noted that Ukrainian defenders are bleeding the Russian army, grinding down its combat capabilities and breaking the morale of the occupiers.
On 17 March, Ground Forces Commander Col-Gen Oleksandr Syrskyy said that the Russians had deployed all their forces and were trying to break through the defence in several directions and completely surround Bakhmut.
On 19 March, the General Staff reported that in the Bakhmut direction, the Defence Forces repelled numerous enemy attacks in the northern part of Bakhmut, as well as in the areas of Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Hryhorivka, and Bohdanivka.