As Russian troops continued to move closer to Ukraine’s Bakhmut, residents fled the eastern city on foot. Read on for the latest updates on the Russia-Ukraine war.
A Ukrainian APC drives towards frontline positions near Bakhmut in Ukraine on Saturday. (Photo: AP)
Pressure from Russian forces compelled residents of Ukraine’s Bakhmut to flee the city on foot with the help of troops, who were preparing to withdraw from the key eastern stronghold, reported the Associated Press.
In Russia’s continued attacks to destroy bridges, a woman was killed and two men were badly wounded while trying to cross a makeshift bridge outside the city in Donetsk province, according to Ukrainian troops who were assisting them.
A Ukrainian army representative, seeking anonymity, told the AP that it was now too dangerous for civilians to leave Bakhmut by vehicle and that people had to flee on foot instead.
For months, Bakhmut has been a primary target in the eastern offensive of Moscow’s war, with Russian troops, including private Wagner Group forces, gradually advancing towards the town. On Saturday, an AP team located near Bakhmut observed Ukrainian soldiers setting up a pontoon bridge to help the remaining residents reach Khromove, a nearby village. Later, the team witnessed at least five houses on fire in Khromove due to the attacks.
In the past 36 hours, Ukrainian units destroyed two critical bridges outside Bakhmut, one of which connected it to Chasiv Yar, the only remaining resupply route for Ukraine. This information was confirmed by UK military intelligence officials and other Western analysts. The U.K. defense ministry reported on Twitter that the bridges were destroyed as Russian fighters advanced further into Bakhmut’s northern suburbs.
Civilians shared daily difficulties as the fighting raged on, reducing much of Bakhmut to rubble. A couple, Hennadiy Mazepa and Natalia Ishkova, who chose to remain in the city, said they lacked food and basic utilities.
“Humanitarian (aid) is given to us only once a month. There is no electricity, no water, no gas,” Ishkova was quoted as saying by AP.
“I pray to God that all who remain here will survive,” she added.
ZAPORIZHZHIA SHELLING DEATH TOLL TOUCHES 11
Elsewhere, the Ukrainian emergency services reported on the morning of the incident that the death toll from a Russian missile attack on a five-story apartment building in southern Ukraine had risen to 11. The emergency services stated in an online statement that three more bodies were found in the rubble overnight, almost 36 hours after the missile had hit four floors of the building in Zaporizhzhia, a city on the riverside. Among the victims was a child, and the search and rescue operations were still ongoing.
Moreover, Russian shelling on Saturday led to the deaths of two individuals in front-line communities in the surrounding Zaporizhzhia region, according to the local military administration. Additionally, a 57-year-old woman and a 68-year-old man were killed in Nikopol, a town situated farther west near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Regional Gov. Serhiy Lysak reported that Russian forces had targeted Ukrainian-held territory across the Dnieper river with artillery shells and rockets.
UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT MEETS EU HEAD
In the western city of Lviv, hundreds of kilometers from the front lines, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Saturday with the head of the European Union parliament. Hours earlier, Zelenskyy held talks with US Attorney General Merrick Garland and top European legal officials on how to hold Russia accountable for its actions in Ukraine.
In a joint press briefing with Zelenskyy, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said that “all those responsible” for suspected Russian war crimes in Ukraine, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, must be brought to justice before a durable peace is achieved.
Metsola voiced support for the EU’s announcement Thursday that an international center for the prosecution of the crime of aggression — the act of invading another country — would be set up in The Hague.
She also called for Ukraine to start negotiations on joining the 27-nation bloc as early as this year and urged Western nations to keep arming Kyiv as it battles Russian forces in the east and south.
The EU agreed in June to put Ukraine on a path toward membership, setting in motion a process that could take years or even decades. However, Moscow’s invasion and Ukraine’s request for fast-track consideration have lent urgency to the negotiations.
“Ukraine’s future is in the European Union. We will walk all the way with you,” Metsola said on Twitter late Friday.