Zelensky: Russia suffering heavy losses in Bakhmut

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia is suffering heavy losses in Bakhmut, a city in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region that has been under Russian fire for six months.

Zelensky said in his nightly address on Sunday that Ukraine’s soldiers from Khortytsia and Tavria have killed more than 1,100 Russian soldiers near Bakhmut since March 6 and 1,500 Russian soldiers suffered “wounds incompatible with continuing fighting.”

“I am grateful to every warrior of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, our intelligence – the Shaman fighters, the National Guard, our border guards – everyone who is really fighting for Ukrainian land, for Bakhmut,” he said in his address.

He added that dozens of pieces of enemy equipment and 10 ammunition depots were destroyed.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said on Sunday that Russia’s advance to capture Bakhmut has slowed. Although Russia continued to launch attacks, the institute said that there is no evidence they are making progress.

The chief of the Wagner Group that is leading Russia’s effort against Bakhmut, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Sunday that fighting in Bakhmut was “difficult, very difficult, with the enemy fighting for each meter,” The Associated Press reported.

Prigozhin has been at odds with Russia military leaders throughout his time fighting Ukraine, and has complained of a lack of ammunition and support from Moscow. He previously warned that if his group retreats from Bakhmut, the entire front line of Russia’s forces will collapse.