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Ukrainian soldiers fire a mortar at Russian positions near Bakhmut
Photo: Libkos / dpa
Despite the heaviest fighting in eastern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyj does not see the Russian attackers getting through and promises reinforcements to the defenders.
"Bachmut is holding on," said the 44-year-old on Sunday in his daily video speech.
Neighboring Soledar is also holding out, although the city is even more devastated and the situation is difficult.
"This is one of the bloodiest places on the front," he described the area around the two small towns that are part of the Ukrainian defensive wall in front of the Sloviansk and Kramatorsk conurbations in the Donetsk region.
According to Zelenskyy, on Sunday Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of the Ukrainian army, visited the troops in Bakhmut and Soledar to direct the defense and organize reinforcements and increased firepower against the enemy.
Syrskyj is considered a hero in Ukraine, who is credited with the successes in defending Kyiv and recapturing the Kharkiv region.
Deputy Ukrainian Defense Minister Hanna Maljar had previously spoken of a difficult situation in Soledar.
The Russian army and the Wagner mercenaries have been trying to take Bakhmut for five months.
Western military experts have expressed surprise, given the heavy Russian casualties and the possibility that Ukrainian forces could withdraw to nearby new defensive positions if a Russian victory were won.
According to a report, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has now justified the bitter push to capture the small Ukrainian town with huge tunnel systems there in which troops and tanks could find shelter.
"The icing on the cake is the Soledar and Bakhmut mining system, which is actually a network of underground cities," Prigozhin said on Saturday, according to Reuters information via Telegram.
"Not only can it accommodate a large group of people at a depth of 80 to 100 meters, but tanks and armored personnel carriers can also move in it."
Retrieved 50 prisoners
In his video message, Zelenskyi again criticized the Russian shelling of Ukrainian cities in the Donbass.
The city of Kramatorsk was said to have been fired upon during the alleged Christmas truce, and Cherson with incendiary ammunition immediately after the end of the Orthodox Christmas.
Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin had announced a 36-hour unilateral ceasefire for the period of the Orthodox Christmas between Friday noon and the night between Saturday and Sunday.
Kyiv has repeatedly described this as "hypocrisy" and "propaganda".
Selenskyj also addressed the prisoner exchange on Sunday in his speech.
50 soldiers, including 33 officers, were brought back.
All Ukrainians would be freed, the President promised.
He called on the soldiers to take more prisoners to increase the possibility of future prisoner exchanges.
ok/dpa