In Bakhmut, in the Donetsk direction, the situation is currently very difficult and tense.

Battles are taking place in the south and north of the city.

Deputy commander of the Svoboda battalion, lieutenant of the National Guard of Ukraine, Volodymyr Nazarenko, told about this in an exclusive interview with TSN.ua. 

"It is most tense on the southern outskirts of Bakhmut: from the city itself to Mayorsk, Kurdyumivka, where the enemy is trying to enter the Kostyantynivka-Bakhmut road. For several days we have optimistic news: the enemy is not succeeding. He has built a reliable defense. His advance in this direction is not observed," Nazarenko said.

According to him, an equally difficult situation is observed in the northern direction - between Bakhmut and Soledar.

There, the enemy wants to take control of the Bakhmut-Slovyansk highway, but he fails to do so.

Currently, the line has been stabilized, and some positions have been recaptured.

In some directions, Russian soldiers were rejected.

"In the city itself, the situation is just as tense. The enemy is trying to impose street battles on the defense forces. The battles are now taking place on the outskirts, in private sectors, but there are no battles in the city center. Our battalion is well aware of what battles are like in urban areas. Compare those the battles that took place in Severodonetsk or Rubizhnye with those that are taking place on the outskirts of Bakhmut are not proven," said the deputy commander of the Svoboda battalion.

Lieutenant of the National Guard of Ukraine, Volodymyr Nazarenko, also said that the occupiers did not go deep enough to talk about a counter-fight in the city itself.

"There is no such thing. If the enemy says that he controls a third of the city, then it is more of a lie. If you take the area of ​​the city, some geographical border, some fields, plantations, maybe somewhere they have advanced beyond the city line, but in the city, where high-rise residential buildings begin houses, there is no enemy there. Every building, every street is a fortress in the city. The defense forces of Bakhmut are ready to repulse any attempts of the enemy to advance. The enemy is destroyed on the approaches to the city as well. All communications are under the control of our artillery. The enemy is suffering very heavy losses ", Nazarenko noted.

Earlier it was reported that the invaders have intensified frontal assaults on Bakhmut and are trying to attack in several directions.

spoke in detail about the situation around Bakhmut, Donetsk region, in a video blog 

.

He emphasized that Bakhmut is holding on.

The President of Ukraine, 

 , emphasized that the occupiers are trying to surround Bakhmut.

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• Ukraine news

• War in Ukraine

• News of Ukraine: video