Kiev: The Ukrainian military claimed that Russia has deployed more than 180,000 troops on two major eastern battlefronts.
In an interview with the local media Monday, Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said: “More than 180,000 (Russian troops have been deployed) across the area of responsibility (of the Eastern Group of Forces)… The Lyman-Kupyansk front is longer, which is why the enemy is concentrating their forces there.”
He also added there were “more than 120,000 enemy troops” currently in the Lyman-Kupyansk direction at the moment, reports CNN.
The spokesperson called it “a pretty powerful grouping” and said it included “air assault and mechanised units, units of the Bars combat army reserve, territorial forces” and new Storm Z assault companies, that he said recruited people with criminal records.
Cherevatyi also claimed that there were around 50,000 Russian troops on the Bakhmut front.
Lyman and Kupyansk are about 100 km apart, north of Bakhmut city.
In a social media post-Monday, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar reported frequent clashes near Bakhmut.
“The situation is changing very rapidly. Control over the same positions can be lost and regained twice a day,” CNN quoted the Minister as saying on Telegram.
Echoing Maliar’s comments, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukrainian Land Forces, said: “The enemy is trying to transfer units to the most threatening directions for counterattacks, trying to destabilise the situation, cause losses to Ukraine and disrupt the logistics of the defense forces.”
Syrskyi added that “the threat of the enemy offensive actions from the side of Bakhmut in the direction of Chasiv Yar remains”
Chasiv Yar is about 15 km west of Bakhmut.
Ukrainian forces have been able to stop Russian troops from moving within Bakhmut, he claimed.
IANS