A Ukrainian military commander has said that Russian forces in Bakhmut had been pushed back by up to 2km in some areas, after counter offensives. Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, who heads Ukraine’s ground forces, made the comments in a post on Telegram: “In some areas of the front, the enemy could not resist the onslaught of the Ukrainian defenders and retreated to a distance of up to two kilometers”.

Russia’s military operation against Ukraine is “very difficult” but certain goals have been achieved, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. Russia has succeeded in severely damaging Ukraine’s military machine and this work will continue, he added.

It comes as Ukraine’s military said its forces have seriously damaged Russia’s 72nd independent motorised rifle brigade near Bakhmut, made up of thousands of troops. Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukrainian troops in the east, said the situation remained “difficult” in Bakhmut but Moscow was increasingly forced to use regular army units because of heavy losses among the Wagner private army group.

Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has complained that his fighters were still not getting enough shells from the official defence ministry. He said the defence ministry had been holding long meetings on the shell issue but there had been no breakthrough. “We’re not receiving enough shells, we’re only getting 10%”, - said Prigozhin.