Ukraine Recap: Russia Makes Big Push Toward Bakhmut and Avdiivka

(Bloomberg) -- Kremlin forces have stepped up the intensity of attacks near Bakhmut over the past week, Ukrainian military spokesman Volodymyr Fityo said on local TV. The Donetsk city was the center of a bitter, months-long battle for control. Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, said Russia is trying to recapture territory lost around Bakhmut during Ukraine’s summer and autumn offensive. “Enemy attacks are being repelled,” he wrote on Sunday. Separately, Kremlin troops are stepping up air strikes around Avdiivka, also in Donetsk, Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, who leads Kyiv’s forces in the area, said on Telegram. Some 30 strikes had been launched in a day, he said.

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Ukraine’s military intelligence took responsibility for an explosion Saturday night in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol that killed three officers of the Russian National Guard, calling it a “revenge action.” Russia on Saturday opened a criminal case into possible terrorism after the detonation of an “improvised explosive device” caused a freight train to derail southeast of Moscow, sending 19 cars off the tracks.

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