KYIV. May 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Militants of the Wagner Group private military company continue to gradually advance in the city of Bakhmut, Donetsk region, but over the past four days, Ukrainian forces have made tactical progress, stabilizing Bakhmut’s flanks in their favor, according to a defense intelligence report tweeted by the British and Northern Ireland Department of Defense on Tuesday morning.
“As well as progress to the south of town, Ukrainian assaults have forced back the Russian frontline to the north-west of the town. This has likely enabled Ukrainian forces to re-establish more secure use of the key 0506 supply road. Ukraine is holding Russia’s western advances along the line of Donets-Donbas Canal, turning the waterway into an obstacle as part of a deep defensive zone around the town of Chasiv Yar,” the report notes.