UK says Russia is reducing troops around Donetsk to ‘divert resources’ to Bakhmut front

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18 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

UK Intelligence services said Tuesday that the Russian Army has reduced the number of troops deployed around the city of Donetsk to “divert resources” to the front in Bakhmut, where Russian forces, backed by mercenaries from the Wagner Group continue to make “slow progress”.

“Heavy fighting continues on the front line in Donbas. There is a realistic possibility that Russia has reduced the number of troops while reducing its offensive actions around the city of Donetsk, most likely to divert resources towards the Bakhmut sector”, they have maintained.

Thus, they have pointed out that “the front line in the center of the city (of Bakhmut) largely follows the main railway line” and they have added that “Ukraine generally holds out against Russia’s encircling movement from the south around to Korsunskovo street, the old main road out of the city”.

“For both sides, the exact sequence of any major reduction of their units around Bakhmut has become a crucial issue, with Ukraine wanting to release an offensive force while Russia probably aspires to regenerate an operational reserve,” they reported, according to a series of messages published by the Russian Ministry of Defense through its account on the social network Twitter.

The assessment of the British Intelligence services comes a day after the Russian Ministry of Defense assured that “two thirds” of the city of Bakhmut, in the east of the country and of great importance in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine , have been “liberated” by Russian forces and are now under their control.