Occupiers Unsuccessfully Attempted Advances on the Outskirts of Bakhmut, UKR Armed Forces Struck Air Defence; Zelensky: Ukraine Will Not Withdraw from Bakhmut; UKR Forces Have ‘likely stabilized’ Their Defensive Perimeter in Bakhmut; Wagner Group leader: Russia Will Lose Territory in Ukraine if Moscow Relents, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

By admin On Mar 8, 2023

Occupiers unsuccessfully attempted advances on the outskirts of Bakhmut, Ukrainian Armed Forces struck air defence – General Staff:

The Russian military unsuccessfully tried to advance on the outskirts of Bakhmut and assault the city itself, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine struck Russian air defence.

Source: General Staff

Details: The aviation of the Defence Forces caused damage during the day – 12 strikes in the areas of concentration of Russian military personnel and equipment and a strike on an anti-aircraft missile system at a firing position.

Units of Rocket Troops and artillery struck three areas of Russian concentration and air defence equipment in firing positions during the day.

During the day, Russia launched 42 air and five missile strikes. Russia used 11 Shahed-136 UAVs during air attacks, nine of which were shot down and made more than 10 MLRS attacks, particularly by locality.

The primary efforts focus on conducting offensive operations on Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Shakhtarsk fronts.

On Volyn, Polissia, Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna fronts, the operational situation has not changed significantly. The formation of Russian offensive groups was not detected. At the same time, Russia continues to hold its units near the state border of Ukraine. Currently, Russia is carrying out mortar and artillery attacks on the areas of the settlements of Senkivka, Chernihiv Oblast; Starikove, Holyshivske, Pavlivka, Volfyne, Sumy Oblast and Veterynarne, Strilecha, Krasne, Ternova, Ohirtseve Vovchansk, Budarky, Kharkiv Oblast.
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Zelensky says Ukraine will not withdraw from Bakhmut despite Russian assaults:

President Volodymyr Zelensky in his nightly address on March 6 said that along with Ukraine’s top-level commanders, the decision was made not to withdraw from Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast and instead to reinforce the troops currently defending the eastern city from Russia’s relentless attacks.

“Today at the General Staff meeting, I directly asked both commander of the Khortytsia operational and strategic group of troops, (Oleksandr) Syrsky, and Commander-in-Chief (Valeriy) Zaluzhny about their view on the further defense operation in Bakhmut: either withdraw or continue to defend and reinforce the city.”

“Both generals replied: do not withdraw and reinforce. The General Staff unanimously backed this opinion. There were no other opinions,” he said.

Russia has been attempting to encircle Bakhmut for months as part of its larger objective of capturing the entirety of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, comprised of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Russia has occupied nearly all of Luhansk Oblast since it first invaded in 2014 and then later during its full-scale invasion.