Ukraine’s counteroffensive near Bakhmut, Russia confirms the deaths of two commanders

As the Ukrainian army stepped up their attempts to breach Russian defenses in the embattled city of Bakhmut, the Russian defence ministry announced on May 14 that two of its military commanders had been killed in eastern Ukraine.

Two Russian colonels killed near Bakhmut

The 4th Motorized Rifle Brigade’s Commander, Colonel Vyacheslav Makarov and another unit’s Deputy Commander, Colonel Yevgeny Brovko, were killed attempting to fend off the Ukrainian counteroffensive, according to the ministry’s daily briefing.

In its regular briefings, the Russian defence ministry hardly ever reports the demise of military leadership.

Additionally, it stated that although Ukrainian forces had launched attacks in the north and south of Bakhmut throughout the previous 24 hours, Russian defenses had held them off. “All attacks by units of Ukraine’s armed forces have been repelled,” it declared.

The commander of the Wagner mercenary army, which had led much of the Russian assault on Bakhmut, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed that his soldiers had advanced up to 130 meters over the previous 24 hours.

On May 14, Hanna Maliar, the deputy minister of defence for Ukraine, reaffirmed that Ukrainian forces “continue to advance in the Bakhmut area in the suburbs.”

“In the north and south of Bakhmut, our soldiers seized more than ten enemy positions and cleared a significant woodland area close to Ivanivske. They captured enemy soldiers from several units, she wrote on the Telegram.

Despite months of bloody combat that has cost both sides significantly, neither Ukrainian nor Russian forces have been able to hold the town entirely.

In the face of a rise in the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Moscow acknowledged that its forces had retreated north of Bakhmut. Still, Kyiv has downplayed reports that a massive, carefully planned counteroffensive had started.

Ukraine obtains more weapons

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine and its Western partners could make a Russian defeat in the war in Ukraine “irreversible” as early as this year and thanked Germany for being a “true friend” during a visit to Berlin.

Germany pledged continued assistance for Ukraine as long as required and announced 2.7 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine, its most extensive package since Russia’s invasion began.

The AMX-10RCs battle vehicles are among the dozens of armoured vehicles and light tanks that France stated it would send to Ukraine in the upcoming weeks. It made the declaration following a business luncheon in Paris with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Ukraine has maintained that it will not consider making any territorial concessions to Russia and wants every square inch of its territory back. In addition to claiming to have annexed four other Ukrainian districts since last year, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.