Ukrainian forces resist ‘re-energised’ Russian assault on Bakhmut

Until recently, a notorious private Russian military contractor, the Wagner Group, spearheaded the campaign to take Bakhmut, making slow progress at the cost of thousands of lives on both sides.

A Ukrainian soldier rests in a shelter at his position on the frontline in Bakhmut (Libkos/AP)

The battle for Bakhmut is heating up again as Ukrainian defenders of the devastated city resisted a three-pronged attack by the Kremlin’s forces and efforts to stop supplies from reaching them.

“Russia has re-energised its assault” on Bakhmut, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said of recent developments in the city in eastern Ukraine, which for eight and a half months has seen the war’s longest and bloodiest fight.