Zelenskyy said in a video address late on Monday that Ukraine’s future relied on destroying Russian forces attacking Bakhmut and other war-torn areas in the country’s eastern Donetsk region.
“It is very tough in the east, very painful. We need to destroy the enemy’s military might, and we will,” Zelenskyy said.“Bilohorivka and Marinka, Avdiivka and Bakhmut, Vuhledar and Kamyanka,” Zelenskyy said, naming the key battlegrounds, adding, “and all other places where our future is being decided. Where our future, the future of all Ukrainians, is being fought for.”Russia has said that capturing Bakhmut opens a path to taking control of the entire Donetsk region, a central war aim for Moscow.After weeks of grinding and bloody battles, the Ukrainian military says it has not retreated from Bakhmut and is intent on staying to fight in order to inflict severe losses on the Russian assault force, which is said to have thrown a huge number of soldiers into the fight without regards for casualties.Russian forces led by the Wagner mercenary army have captured Bakhmut’s east but have so far failed to encircle the city despite making announcements over recent weeks that a Ukrainian defeat was imminent.