JAKARTA - Ukrainian forces have been forced to withdraw from several areas of the battleground town of Bakhmut, as Russia launched a new offensive there with intense artillery fire over the last two days, according to a British intelligence update on Friday.
"Russia has stepped up its offensive again in the town of Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, as forces of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Wagner Group have increased cooperation," Britain said, referring to the Russian Ministry of Defense and its main mercenary force.
"Ukrainian forces are facing significant supply problems, but have been undertaking regular withdrawals from positions they have been forced to control," the British military continued in its daily intelligence update.
The mercenaries of the Wagner Group are known to Russian troops in months of fighting, the deadliest war for troops from both sides, but the mercenary group's leader complains of poor support for his troops from the regular military.
"Ukrainian defenses still control the western districts of the city, but have been the target of very intense Russian artillery fire over the previous 48 hours," said the latest report from Britain.
It said Wagner's units were now focused on advancing into the center of Bakhmut, while Russian paratroopers assisted them in attacks on the flanks of the town.
Bakhmut, which housed some 70,000 men before the war, has been a key Russian target in its massive winter offensive, which has so far made little gains despite infantry ground fighting of an intensity unheard of in Europe since the Second World War.
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Taking the city would be Russia's first major victory in eight months. Moscow says that will pave the way for seizing more territory in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, which is a key objective of the war.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainians, who were preparing their own counteroffensive, looked set to leave Bakhmut at the end of February, but announced in March they would continue fighting there, saying the Russians had taken heavy casualties trying to overrun the city.
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