Ukraine has claimed that its forces have killed and wounded more than 500 Russian soldiers during fighting in the eastern city of Bakhmut in the past 24 hours.
According to the spokesman of the Ukrainian army, the Russian army suffered heavy casualties.
Russian forces have been on the offensive for several months to gain control of the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region.
According to Reuters, both sides have claimed to have inflicted heavy casualties on each other, but exact numbers are difficult to confirm.
On the eastern front of Ukraine, the spokesman of Bursar-Pekar forces, Serhii Chirivati, said that during the last 24 hours, Russian forces carried out 16 attacks, while fighting is taking place in 23 different places near the city of Bakhmut.
He told the National Parliament TV channel that during the battle, 221 enemy soldiers were killed while 314 received various injuries.
It was not clear from the spokesman’s statement whether he was referring to the deaths since Friday or the deaths in the latest 24 hours.
According to the Reuters news agency, this claim could not be immediately confirmed.
An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said on Friday that his forces had decided to continue fighting in Bakhmut because the best units of the Russian army were suffering heavy losses there.
Moscow says the capture of Bakhmut would be a major breach in Ukraine’s defenses, allowing it to fully capture the industrial region of eastern Donbass, a major target.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year, tens of thousands of people have been killed, tens of millions have been displaced, and major Ukrainian cities and villages have been reduced to ruins.