BLOOMBERG
Ukraine said troops pushed back Russian forces near Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region, though the Russian Defense Ministry said its units were advancing in the west and northwest of the devastated town.
Ukraine advanced 2.6 kilometres into Russian-held areas near Bakhmut along a 3 kilometre stretch of front line, according to Andriy Biletskyi, a commander of the brigade that stormed Russian positions.
The area is now liberated, with many Russians killed and captured and military equipment destroyed, he said in comments that were impossible to immediately confirm.
Ukraine’s General Staff declined to comment on the report. It came a day after Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, said a Russian army unit fled its position in Bakhmut, exposing part of the front line and ceding territory that 500 of his fighters had died taking.
Meanwhile, Poland’s Foreign Ministry issued a note of protest to Moscow’s ambassador to Warsaw over dangerous manoeuvres of a Russian Su-35 fighter near a Frontex border plane off of Romania’s coast.
The crew of the Polish two-engine turboprop temporarily lost control of the plane when the jet intentionally crossed its flight path, Romania and Poland said.