Russia Claims Its Troops Have Reached Its Target, President Zelensky Calls Ukraine Successful in Maintaining Positions in the Eastern Region

President Zelensky with the Ukrainian military. (Source: President.gov.ua)

JAKARTA - President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday, Ukrainian troops were holding their ground on the eastern front, after Russia reported they had hit their main target in the area.

Russia, which is trying to secure full control of the two eastern provinces that make up Ukraine's Donbas industrial region, has launched repeated attacks, securing its biggest advantage around the mining town of Bakhmut.

By contrast, Ukrainian and Western officials say, pro-Moscow troops have lost thousands of people.

"It is very important that despite the immense pressure on our troops, the front line does not suffer any changes," President Zelensky explained in a late night video address, after a detailed report from the front line at a meeting of the Ukrainian military commands.

Ukrainian troops in the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions did everything they could to contain the enemy's onslaught, "and Russia has not relented in spite of staggering losses," said President Zelensky.

He further said that Russian troops trying to seize Avdiivka, the second focal point of attacks in the Donetsk region, even used tear gas grenades.

Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry said its troops were advancing on Bakhmut, which was devastated after months of bombardment but is seen by the Kremlin as an important outpost for capturing other towns further west in the Donetsk region.

"In the last two days alone, there was an advance of more than 2.5 km (1.5 miles) by assault units on entrenched Ukrainian positions in the Artyomovsk area," the ministry claimed, referring to Bakhmut by the Soviet-era name used. in Russia.

Separately, Ukrainian military analysts have reported additional gains by Russian troops reaching hundreds of meters at a time, with the fighting spilling over into parts of the city.

The protracted battle for control of Bakhmut has sparked a lively public debate in Ukraine over whether it is worth defending a city of limited strategic importance.

Earlier, President Zelensky said in an interview last week, there may come a time when mounting losses will make it impractical to continue to maintain a city of just 5.000 residents out of 70.000 before the war.