Ukrainian military reportedly blew up a bridge in the eastern city of Bakhmut, indicating that they may be planning to withdraw from the area, giving Russia a big symbolic boost ahead of the war's first anniversary.
According to a local Donetsk region news site, troops blew up the bridge on Monday. Despite six months of hard warfare and decreasing stores, Ukraine insists it has no plans to evacuate Bakhmut.
The Kremlin appears to be concentrating all of its forces on taking Bakhmut before the one-year anniversary of the invasion on February 24. Over the last week, Ukraine and its western allies have claimed that Russia has already launched a fresh attack across the contact line in an attempt to gain ground before additional Western supplies arrive in the spring.
"It is evident that we are in a logistical race," Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels on Monday.
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called the situation on the frontlines as "very challenging," particularly in Donetsk and Luhansk, late Tuesday.
"It's a struggle for every metre of Ukrainian soil," Zelensky declared in his nightly speech to the nation.
After months of failures, a Russian victory in Bakhmut would provide a boost to the Kremlin and serve as a stepping stone to fighting for the two next major Ukrainian-controlled cities.
The commander of the Wagner organisation, whose mercenaries had been fighting for months to conquer Bakhmut, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed the conflict was far from done. "Bakhmut will not be removed tomorrow since there is significant resistance and grinding, the meat grinder is functioning," he told his press agency. "We will not be celebrating anytime soon," he warned.
He claimed that Ukraine is "getting more active, digging up more and more fresh reserves".