Extract from ABC News
The Ukrainian military and Russia's Wagner private army both reported further Russian retreats around the city of Bakhmut on Thursday, as Kyiv pressed on with its biggest advance for six months ahead of a planned counteroffensive.
Key points:
- Ukraine's military says its troops in Bakhmut have advanced in places by 1 kilometre
- The Wagner mercenary group's chief has accused Russian commanders of abandoning ground, but says his forces advanced up to 400 metres in Bakhmut
- Meanwhile, the US has over-estimated its weapons support for Ukraine by $US3 million, sources say
Ukrainian troops near the front line said Russia was bombarding access roads to slow the Ukrainian assault, which has shifted momentum after months of slow Russian gains in Europe's deadliest ground combat since World War II.
Ukraine said it had repelled a day of Russian attacks in and around the ruined city and made gains of 1 kilometre in some places while buying time for "certain planned actions".
The head of the Wagner mercenary force, which is spearheading the Russian attack on Bakhmut, said his forces had advanced up to 400 metres.
"We're pushing Bakhmut all the way to the end," he said in an audio recording on his Telegram channel.
The developments come as news emerged that the US Pentagon had overestimated the value of the ammunition, missiles and other equipment it sent to Ukraine by around $US3 billion ($4.5 billion), a Senate aide and a Department of Defence official confirmed on Thursday, local time, an error that may lead the way for more weapons being sent to Kyiv for its defence against Russian forces.
Pentagon accounting error
The error was the result of assigning a higher-than-warranted value on weaponry that was taken from US stocks and then shipped to Ukraine, two senior Defence officials said.
"We've discovered inconsistencies in how we valued the equipment that we've given [to Ukraine]," one of the senior Defence officials told Reuters.
The officials and the Senate aide spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Congress is being notified of the accounting adjustment on Thursday, the sources said.
The Defence official said it was possible the amount of overvalued weaponry could grow beyond $US3 billion ($4.5 billion) as the Pentagon examines the situation more thoroughly.
In its accounting, the Pentagon used replacement cost to value the weapons aid, instead of the weaponry's value when it had been purchased and depreciated, the senior defence officials said.
Since August 2021, the United States has sent weapons valued at about $US21.1 billion ($31.8 billion) to Ukraine from its stockpiles.
Changing the valuation of the equipment could delay the Biden administrations' need to ask Congress to authorise more funds for Ukraine as the debt ceiling fight intensifies.
Movements in Bakhmut
While Russia boosted its forces in the city of Bakhmut, attacking the suburbs to the north and engaged in fierce fighting in the southern suburbs, Ukraine's forces advanced 500m in the north and in some areas in the south by 1 kilometre, deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on her Telegram channel.
"The defence of Bakhmut and its outskirts is meeting its military objectives," she said. "As of now, we control the south-western part of Bakhmut."
She said that Russia had attacked Bakhmut all day, having "significantly strengthened" its grouping in Bakhmut by bringing most of its reserves there.
"All the attacks were repelled by our defenders," she added.
"Now, for the most part, as we have started to advance, they are shelling all the routes to front positions, so our armoured vehicles can't deliver more infantry, ammunition and other things," said Petro Podaru, commander of a Ukrainian artillery unit.
However, Ukraine's military said troops had advanced in places by almost 2 kilometres, an increase on the distance cited by Ms Maliar.
Its forces had been on the defensive for half a year, weathering a huge offensive by Moscow that saw only slow gains.
"Despite the fact that our units do not have an advantage in equipment … and personnel, they have continued to advance on the flanks, and covered a distance of 150 to 1,700 metres," military spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi said in televised comments.
Ukraine's gains have been accompanied by a deepening public split within Russia's forces between Wagner, which has led the Bakhmut campaign, and the regular Russian military.
The blasted ruins of Bakhmut — described by both sides as a "meat grinder" — would be Moscow's only prize for its huge winter offensive that failed elsewhere along the front.
Kyiv says it has launched local advances around Bakhmut as a prelude to an upcoming big counteroffensive that, it hopes, will turn the tide against Russia's 15-month-old invasion.
Wagner chief appeals to Russian Defence Ministry
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin says his forces inside Bakhmut itself are still advancing, on the cusp of pushing Ukrainian troops out of their last foothold in the built-up area on the city's western outskirts.
However, he accuses commanders of Russia's regular forces of abandoning ground north and south of the city, raising the risk of troops inside being encircled.
"Unfortunately, units of the Russian Defence Ministry have withdrawn up to 570 metres to the north of Bakhmut, exposing our flanks," Mr Prigozhin said in his latest voice message on Thursday.
"I am appealing to the top leadership of the Ministry of Defence — publicly — because my letters are not being read," Mr Prigozhin said, addressing Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
"Please do not give up the flanks."
The Russian Defence Ministry has acknowledged some withdrawals from positions near Bakhmut over the past week but denies Mr Prigozhin's assertions that flanks are crumbling, or that it has withheld ammunition from Wagner.
Ukraine sets 'mousetrap' for Russian troops
Kyiv says its tactic around Bakhmut is to draw Russian forces into the city, so as to weaken Russia's frontline defences elsewhere, ahead of Kyiv's planned counter assault.
"Wagner troops climbed into Bakhmut like rats into a mousetrap," Oleksander Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's ground forces, told troops at the Bakhmut frontline in a video he released this week on social media.
"Using the principle of active defence, we resort to counteroffensive actions in some directions near Bakhmut. The enemy has more resources, but we are destroying his plans."
With Kyiv's counteroffensive looming, Russia has resumed missile and drone strikes across Ukraine this month after a near two-month lull.
Waves of attacks now come several times a week, the most-intense pace since the war began.
On Thursday, air raid sirens sounded, black smoke filled the sky over Kyiv and one person was reported killed in the southern city of Odesa. Ukraine said it shot down 29 of 30 incoming missiles. Moscow claimed to have hit military targets.
Russia has also been experiencing attacks and explosions, both in Ukrainian territory it controls and in Russian territory near the border.
Officials in Russian-occupied Crimea reported a freight train had been derailed overnight by "interference".
Kyiv never confirms any role in incidents there.
Black Sea grain deal still in doubt
On the diplomatic front, leaders of the G7 group of big developed countries have been meeting in Japan, where they are expected to unveil tighter measures to close off Russia's opportunities to bypass financial sanctions.
US President Joe Biden and Japan's, Fumio Kishida, met for talks in Hiroshima, aiming for closer cooperation in the face of both an unpredictable Russia and ascendant China.
A Catholic website reported that Pope Francis hoped to send personal peace envoys to the Ukrainian and Russian presidents.
On Wednesday, Moscow agreed to a two-month extension of a deal safeguarding export of Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports, despite the war.
Russia had threatened to abandon the deal unless it received additional guarantees protecting its own grain and fertiliser exports.
However, a Ukrainian official said the corridor had not yet resumed, while Russia said more progress was needed to advance its interests.
Reuters
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