Zelensky visits ‘hot spot’ of Bakhmut fighting

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today visited Bakhmut, a city in Donetsk that Russian forces have been trying to conquer for months and currently the ‘hottest’ point on the battlefront in eastern Ukraine, an official source said.

“[Zelensky] met soldiers, spoke with them and decorated them,” said the press service of the Ukrainian Presidency.

While Zelensky regularly travels to areas close to the front lines, the visit to Bakhmut in the Donbass region appears to be the riskiest of all trips.

“Zelensky in Bakhmut. The bravest president of the bravest nation,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov commented on the Telegram social network.

Since the summer, the Russians have been trying to take Bakhmut, once known for its vineyards and salt mines and which had around 70,000 inhabitants before the invasion of Moscow, launched at the end of February.

Zelensky is sending a clear message to Ukrainian troops: I'm with you, don't give up, continue fighting.

To this day, Putin didn't have time to visit Russian troops fighting in Ukraine. His message is also clear: I don't give a damn about you. https://t.co/i77s2ijujO

— Никола Миковић / Nikola Mikovic (@nikola_mikovic) December 20, 2022

In recent months, the city has become the scene of violent clashes, with high casualties on both sides, due to exhaustive trench warfare, heavy artillery duels and frontal attacks.

While Russian troops claim to have taken villages and areas around the city, Ukrainian forces appear to control Bakhmut and part of the surroundings.

“Russian forces allegedly lost positions south of Bakhmut on December 18 and continued ground attacks near Bakhmut and the city of Donetsk,” commented Monday, in a report, the analysis center of the Institute for the Study of War, based in the United States.

The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine caused at least 6.5 million internally displaced people and more than 7.8 million refugees to European countries, so the United Nations classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).

At the moment, 17.7 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian aid and 9.3 million are in need of food aid and shelter.

The UN presented as confirmed since the beginning of the war 6,755 dead civilians and 10,607 wounded, underlining that these numbers are far below the real ones.

*With Lusa