Ukraine Claims Russian Forces Using ‘Scorched Earth’ Tactics in Battle for Bakhmut

Ukrainian serviceman reacts as he throws a grenade during a training in Donbas region, Ukraine, on April 8, 2023. Yan Dorbronosov/Reuters

KYIV—Russian forces are pressing attacks in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, focusing on two cities and pounding Ukrainian positions with air strikes and artillery barrages, Kyiv said on Monday.

The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces said the Russians were destroying buildings and positions in besieged Bakhmut in what he called “scorched earth” tactics.

Russia’s assault on Bakhmut has for months been the focus of the biggest battle of the war, now in its second year.

Ukraine’s Armed Forces General Staff said on Sunday fighting was heaviest along the western approaches to Bakhmut. The Russians were also targeting the city of Avdiivka, it said.

On Monday, ground forces commander Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said the defence of Bakhmut continued.

“The situation is difficult but controllable,” he claimed in comments quoted by Ukraine’s Media Military Centre.

Moscow is sending in special forces and airborne assault units to help their attack as members of Russia’s private mercenary Wagner group are now exhausted, Syrskyi claimed.

Reuters could not verify the battlefield accounts.

Donetsk is one of four provinces in eastern and southern Ukraine that Russia declared annexed last year and is seeking to fully control.

Control of Bakhmut could allow Russia to directly target Ukrainian defensive lines in Chasiv Yar in the east and open the way for its forces to advance on two bigger cities in the Donetsk region—Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said Russian forces controlled the centre of Bakhmut, with much of their assault now focusing on the railway station.

In a video address on Sunday night, Zelenskyy denounced Russian air strikes coinciding with the observance of Orthodox Palm Sunday.

The majority of Ukraine’s 41 million people are Orthodox Christians who celebrate Easter next weekend, as does Russia.

Metropolitan Epiphanius I, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, sprays holy water on believers after a service which marks the Orthodox feast of Palm Sunday in a church at the compound of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 9, 2023. Vladyslav Musiienko/Reuters

In other action, Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had destroyed a depot with 70,000 tonnes of fuel near Zaporizhzhia.

The forces destroyed Ukrainian army warehouses storing missiles, ammunition and artillery in the regions of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk, the ministry said.

Ukraine also reported widespread Russian shelling in northern regions. Officials in the south said Russian aircraft had used guided bombs against towns in the Kherson region.