Affirms Ukraine's Supreme Military Command Agrees To Defend Bakhmut, President Zelensky: Destroys Colonials

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

JAKARTA - Ukraine's top military command unanimously supports defending the eastern Ukraine sector, including the trapped city of Bakhmut, and inflicting maximum losses on the enemy, President Voldoymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday.

"The main focus is... Bakhmut," Zelenskiy said in his evening video address.

"There is a clear position from all orders: Strengthen this sector and destroy the invaders to the fullest," he stressed.

President Zelensky's office said the presidents, top government officials and military commanders had discussed the situation in the small town in the eastern part, where Russian and Ukrainian forces had claimed many lives.

"After considering a defense operation towards Bakhmut, all... stated the same position to continue holding and defending the city of Bakhmut," the office said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said maintaining Bakhmut was a "very important strategic interest".

"This is key to the stability of the defense of the entire front," he said, praising the strength and courage of the Ukrainian army.

On the occasion, President Zelensky and military command also discussed the speed and scale of weapons and equipment supplies from Ukraine's Western partners, and how to allocate them to troops. The president's office did not provide details of these discussions.

It is known, after nearly eight months of fighting, Ukrainian troops were trapped on three sides in Bakhmut, but showed no sign of being pushed back to the new defensive line.

Meanwhile, Russia sees Bakhmut as a stepping stone for its troops to advance to two major cities in the Donetsk region: Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.