Ukraine’s forces are “gradually moving forward” around the battered city of Bakhmut, while also claiming some gains elsewhere on the eastern front, a military spokesperson told CNN on Sunday.
Surrounding Bakhmut, Kyiv’s military has generally been able to gain hundreds of meters per day and capture kilometers of territory each week, according to Serhii Cherevatyi, who represents the military’s eastern grouping.
“This is a tactic of slow but steady progress. We realize that we have comparable forces and means, and sometimes the enemy outnumbers us,” Cherevatyi said. “We use the tactics of coverage, maneuvers, ambush and not direct frontal attacks. And so, we are gradually moving forward.”
Remember: Bakhmut is one of the most fiercely contested cities in the conflict, with both militaries pouring significant resources into its capture. While the territory bears some strategic value, it also has become a powerful symbol in a war where Russian President Vladimir Putin has had few recent clear-cut victories.
In May, fighters with the Wagner private military group claimed to have captured the city and handed it over to Russia’s military. But in the time since, Ukraine has reported that heavy fighting continues in the area and claimed regular gains all around the city.
CNN cannot independently verify battlefield reports from either side in the conflict.
Other fighting nearby: North of Bakhmut, near the focal point cities of Lyman and Kupyansk, the Ukrainian military spokesperson said Russia’s military is maintaining a presence of around 100,000 troops but suffering “heavy losses.”
A bit farther east, the Luhansk region’s Serebryansky forest “is a site of constant fighting,” Cherevatyi said. Despite Russia’s strategic actions, “they are failing there,” he claimed.
In his evening address on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it was “a good day, a powerful day” at the front lines. He highlighted Bakhmut and “other very hot and painful areas,” including the small eastern cities of Avdiivka and Marinka, which have been long battered by the war.
