Russia says it has captured a village on the northern outskirts of Bakhmut as it intensifies efforts to besiege a front-line city in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
The village of Vlahodatne, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) north of Bakhmut, was captured with the help of air support, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
There was no immediate response from the Ukrainian government and Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the accounts.
The announcement comes three days after the head of Russia’s Wagner Group said mercenary forces had seized Vlahodatne in an attack that Ukraine said had been repulsed.
The capture of Bakhmut, which had a pre-war population of about 75,000, would be Russia’s first major battlefield achievement since capturing the cities of Severodonetsk and Lyschansk in July.
Regional Governor Pablo Kirilenko said two civilians, including a boy, were killed in a Russian shelling of Bakhmut on Tuesday.
Russian forces have made several advances in the area in recent weeks, notably capturing the salt-mining town of Soldar, north of Bakhmut.
Earlier this month, Russia claimed to have captured a pre-war village of about 400 people called Kryshchivka in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. The village is located about 9 kilometers (6 miles) south of Bahmut.
This week, a large Russian force launched an offensive against the Ukrainian-held fortress of Vuhledar, further south along the same Eastern Front. Russian officials claim they have established a foothold there, but Kyiv says it has largely repelled the attack so far.
Military center of Belarus
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin backed plans to set up a joint military training center with Belarus on Tuesday, reigniting speculation that troops from neighboring countries could join his forces in Ukraine.
In the order, Putin ordered the defense and foreign ministers to hold talks with Belarus and sign an agreement to establish the facility.
The document did not specify where the center would be based. Minsk has allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory as a launch pad for an offensive against Ukraine that began on February 24 last year.
Belarus’s longtime leader, Alexander Lukashenko, has insisted for months that he will not send troops to Ukraine despite stepping up military cooperation with Russia.
Earlier this month, the two countries launched joint air force exercises in Belarus that are scheduled to last until February 1.
Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler reported from near the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, where Ukrainian forces are training in a potential sanction, saying, “Some experts believe the exercise will bring Ukrainian forces to the east and south. “It could be a diversionary tactic to pull us away from the front lines of the military,” he said. Threat military threat from Belarus.
“Few here expected this war, no one pretends to know what Moscow is planning. I say it’s done.”
France sends more weapons
Separately, Defense Minister Sébastien Lecorne said on Tuesday that France would send 12 more Caesar truck-mounted howitzers to Ukraine to help fight Russia.
The 18 artillery pieces already delivered will be funded by a €200 million ($217 million) fund set up by France after the Russian invasion, and Lécornu will be working with its Ukrainian counterpart in Paris, Oleksiy. said at a joint press conference with Reznikov. .
Alongside other Western-made mobile artillery such as the German Panzerhaubice 2000, the Caesar last year helped Ukraine hit targets deep in Russian lines and undermine Moscow’s offensive. It is rated as
The truck-mounted 155 mm guns can fire high-precision volleys at ranges of up to 40 km (25 miles), allowing them to reposition themselves before the enemy can spot them and counterattack.
Lecornu said a new batch of howitzers will be delivered in the coming weeks.
Denmark also pledged to commit its entire existing fleet of 19 powerful French howitzers to the Ukrainian war effort.
