The New York Times, als toonaangevende krant voor de westerse mainstream-media meldt:
Ukraine reports more fighting near Bakhmut.
Ukrainian forces are making an advance near the ruined eastern city of Bakhmut which fell to Russian forces more than two weeks ago, two senior Ukrainian defense officials said on Monday.
Tanks from an assault brigade destroyed enemy positions and the forces had made progress in a small wooded area “during an assault on enemy positions in the Bakhmut sector,” the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, said in a brief message posted on the Telegram app. “We continue to move forward,” he added.
Mr. Syrsky did not specify the scale of the fighting, which has in recent days involved a series of relatively limited Ukrainian efforts to move forward on the outskirts of the city.
Ukraine’s deputy minister of defense, Hanna Maliar, said that Bakhmut was the epicenter of military operations and that Kyiv’s forces were on the offensive. “We are moving along a fairly wide front,” she said. “We are successful.”
Ms. Maliar said Ukrainian forces hold the “dominant heights” — an apparent reference to the hills outside of the city, where Ukrainian officials have said they hoped to establish favorable firing positions.
It was not possible to confirm the comments by either official independently, and there was no immediate comment from the Russian authorities.
It also was not clear whether the fighting was part of the possible opening stages of a broader assault, which Ukraine has been preparing for months, or part of more isolated and limited fighting in a battle for the city that has raged since last summer.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense released an elaborate video on Sunday in which it said it would remain silent about the start of an expected counteroffensive, which is intended to recapture territory from Russia.
Russian forces reduced Bakhmut, a city in the Donetsk region that had 70,000 residents before the war, to rubble during around 10 months of fighting. Moscow declared victory more than two weeks ago in the battle for Bakhmut, which became one of the bloodiest assaults since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than 15 months ago.
Much of the fighting had been conducted by mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner private military company, but last week its forces began to withdraw from the city in line with orders from the group’s leader, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin.
Since the fall of Bakhmut, Ukrainian forces have retaken limited territory on its outskirts but Ukraine’s military said last week that the level of fighting for the city had dwindled.
The Russian Ministry of Defense did not comment directly on fighting near Bakhmut, but said early Monday that a major Ukrainian operation had begun along multiple sections of the front line in the Donetsk region. The ministry said that the Ukrainian attack had been repelled, but its account could not be confirmed.
https://archive.is/JZiTc#selection-1193.0-1274.0
Deze berichtgeving demonstreert opnieuw dat de westerse mainstream-media geen correspondenten aan het front hebben, in tegenstelling tot alle voorafgaande oorlogen. Mijn collega's doen ook niet meer aan wederhoor, met als gevolg dat de lezer niet kan weten wat waar en niet waar is.
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