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Clashes near Bakhmut continue, Ukraine says

MOSCOW — Despite a recent easing of combat in Bakhmut, clashes around the obliterated city in eastern Ukraine continue with Moscow suffering losses, Kyiv’s armed forces said on Sunday.

Ukraine’s top military command said in its daily report that Russian forces had carried out two unsuccessful operations around Bakhmut and launched a number of airstrikes and artillery shelling on nearby villages.

The head of Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group said on Saturday that 99 percent of his fighters had left Bakhmut.

Ukraine said late last month that fighting had eased in the area, but the commander of its ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces continued their fight there.

“The enemy continues to suffer significant losses in the Bakhmut direction,” Syrskyi said on the Telegram messaging app after what he said was a visit to troops around Bakhmut. “Defence forces continue to fight. We will win.”

There was no comment from Russia on the issue.

The Ukrainian daily report said on Sunday that about 23 combat clashes had taken place over the past day in the Donetsk region, home to Bakhmut, and the neighboring Luhansk region, which together make up the Donbas region.

In the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, an airstrike hit a residential district, killing a two-year-old girl and injuring 22 others, officials said on Sunday.

Shelling by Ukrainian forces on Russia’s Belgorod region continued overnight on Sunday after two people were killed the previous night, and hundreds of children were evacuated away from the border, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

“Overnight, it was quite restless,” Gladkov said on Telegram, adding that the Shebekino and Volokonovsky districts suffered a lot of damage from shelling during the night.

More than 4,000 people were relocated to temporary accommodations in the region, which borders Ukraine to its south and west, Gladkov said.

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2023-06-05T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-06-05T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://chinadaily.pressreader.com/article/281857237927144

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