Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov, who has served in
the military, said that while the offensive on Bakhmut remained
intense, “the conclusion is that Russian troops are beginning to
rush about from place to place”. 

“It now appears that the enemy has shifted its focus to the
city itself – that is where the heaviest fighting is now taking
place,” Mr Zhdanov said in a YouTube video. 

Meanwhile, another Ukrainian military analyst, Roman Svitan, said the situation in
Bakhmut has stabilised and the Ukrainians’ main task there, to
destroy Russian forces, was being fulfilled. 

Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Malyar, said in a
social media post that while losses were inevitable “the enemy’s
losses are many times greater”. 

The Ukrainian military also said there was renewed
shelling of Kherson city in the south, along with other towns on
the west bank of the Dnipro River that bisects the country. 

The Ukrainian air force said it had destroyed a Russian Su-24M bomber. It added that in the past 24 hours, rocket and artillery struck two
areas of concentration of Russian forces, an ammunition depot
and two fuel depots.