CHASIV YAR, Ukraine, March 3 (Reuters) - Russian troops and mercenaries were closing off the last access routes to the besieged Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Friday, on the cusp of Moscow's first major victory in half a year after the bloodiest fighting ...
The head of Russia’s Wagner private army said the city, which has been blasted to ruins, was now almost completely surrounded, with only one route out left open for Ukraine’s troops.
Ukraine recaptured swathes of territory in the second half of 2022 but its forces have been on the defensive for three months. It says the city has little strategic value but that the huge losses there could determine the course of the war. The camera panned to show three captured Ukrainians – a grey-bearded older man and two boys – asking to be allowed to go home. From visible buildings, Reuters determined the footage was filmed in Paraskoviivka, a village 7 km north of the centre of Bakhmut.
“They take no account of their losses in trying to take the city by assault. The task of our forces in Bakhmut is to inflict as many losses on the enemy as possible. Every metre of Ukrainian land costs hundreds of lives to the enemy,” he said. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was due to meet U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House to discuss additional military aid to Ukraine.
Asked by reporters whether potential sanctions against China would be a topic for Biden and Scholz, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said “the issue of a third party support to Russia could come up.”
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