A representative of the Ukrainian military, who asked not to be named for operational reasons, told The Associated Press that it was now too dangerous for civilians to leave Bakhmut by vehicle and people had to flee on foot instead.
For months, Bakhmut has been a prime target of Moscow’s dragging eastern offensive into the war, with Russian forces, including troops from the privately owned Wagner Group, closing in on them.
An AP team near Bakhmut on Saturday spotted a pontoon bridge erected by Ukrainian soldiers to help the few remaining residents reach the nearby village of Khromove. Later, they saw at least five houses on fire due to attacks in Khromove.
Over the past 36 hours, Ukrainian units have destroyed two key bridges just outside Bakhmut, including one connecting it to the nearby town of Chasiv Yar along the last remaining Ukrainian supply route, according to British military intelligence officials and other Western analysts.
The British Ministry of Defense said in the latest of its regular Twitter updates that the destruction of the bridges came as Russian fighters pushed further into Bakhmut’s northern suburbs.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, ruled late Friday that Kiev’s actions may indicate an imminent withdrawal from parts of the city. It said Ukrainian troops could “carry out a limited and controlled withdrawal from particularly difficult parts of eastern Bachmut” as they try to curb Russian movement there and limit escape routes to the west.
The capture of Bakhmut would not only give Russian fighters a rare battlefield gain after months of setbacks, but it could also sever Ukraine’s supply lines and allow Kremlin forces to advance on other Ukrainian strongholds in the Donetsk region .
Civilians spoke of daily battles as fighting raged almost non-stop, leaving much of Bakhmut in ruins. Husband and wife Hennadiy Mazepa and Natalia Ishkova, who chose to stay in the city, said they lack food and basic services.
“Humanitarian (aid) is given to us only once a month. There is no electricity, no water, no gas,” Ishkova told AP on Saturday.
“I pray to God that anyone who stays here will survive,” she added.
At the United Nations on Friday, deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said UN humanitarian staff reported “intense hostilities” near Bakhmut and that the few humanitarian partners on the ground were focusing on evacuating the most vulnerable.
Also on Saturday, Russia’s defense chief traveled to eastern Ukraine to inspect troops and award them with state awards, the defense ministry said.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited a command post where he was briefed by regional commander Rustam Muradov, according to a video released by the ministry. It did not reveal the location of the command post.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian emergency services reported in the morning that the death toll from a Russian missile strike that hit a five-story apartment building in southern Ukraine on Thursday has risen to 11.
Emergency services said in an online statement that rescuers pulled three more bodies from the wreckage overnight, some 36 hours after a Russian missile pierced four floors of the building in the riverside city of Zaporizhzhia. Among the reported deaths was a child and the rescue was underway.
Russian shelling on Saturday also killed two residents of frontline communities in the surrounding Zaporizhzhia region, the local military administration reported.
A 57-year-old woman and a 68-year-old man also died in Nikopol, a town further west near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, when Russian forces fired artillery shells and rockets into Ukrainian territory across the Dnieper River. Government Serhiy Lysak reported.
In the western city of Lviv, hundreds of kilometers from the front lines, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met the head of the European Union parliament on Saturday. Hours earlier, Zelensky had talks with US Attorney General Merrick Garland and European legal officials about how to hold Russia accountable for its actions in Ukraine.
In a joint press briefing with Zelensky, 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 lasting peace can be achieved.
Metsola expressed support for the EU’s announcement on Thursday that an international center for the prosecution of the crime of aggression – invading another country – would be set up in The Hague.
She also called on Ukraine to begin negotiations to join the 27-nation bloc as early as this year and urged Western countries to continue arming Kiev in the fight against Russian forces in the east and south.
The EU agreed in June to help Ukraine move towards membership, starting a process that could take years or even decades. However, the invasion of Moscow and Ukraine’s request for expedited treatment have made negotiations urgent.
“Ukraine’s future lies in the European Union. We’ll walk with you all the way,” Metsola said on Twitter late Friday.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
