The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut endured heavy artillery fire today in what the NATO chief said appeared to be the start of a major new Russian offensive as the first anniversary of the war neared | Read more:
Ukrainian defenders, who have already held out there for months, were braced for new ground attacks, Ukrainian military officials said.
"... The reality is we have seen the start already because we see now what Russia does now - President Putin does now - is to send thousands and thousands more troops, accepting a very high rate of casualty," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels. "The city is a fortress, every position and every street there, almost every building, is a fortress," he said.
"But our forces fought back there," he told Ukrainian television."It was the same situation in the direction of Kreminna - a lot of them appeared there. But they pulled back after the fight with our forces." Ukraine says it needs fighter jets and long-range missiles to counter the offensive and recapture lost territory.
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022 saying its neighbour posed a security threat. Kyiv and the West say the action was nothing more than a land grab.The United States has told its citizens to leave Russia immediately due to the war in Ukraine and the risk of arbitrary arrest or harassment by Russian law enforcement agencies.
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