Russia is intensifying hostilities in Ukraine a year after its invasion in a deliberate attempt to deplete Ukrainian forces, the Ukrainian military said on Thursday.

Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov said Russia had set the goal of capturing all the territory it does not control in the two regions that make up the industrial Donbas area of eastern Ukraine by summer. The fiercest fighting remained around the eastern city of Bakhmut, he told a military briefing on the eve of Friday’s anniversary of the invasion on February 24 last year.

“The enemy, having an advantage in the resource of human mobilisation, is deliberately intensifying hostilities in an effort to deplete the units of the armed forces of Ukraine,” Gromov said. “In the short term, it is important for the Kremlin to capture the key settlements in the Donetsk region, and in the future to capture (all of) the Donetsk and Luhansk regions before the summer.”

Kyiv says Russia is suffering heavy casualties as it throws recently mobilised troops into battle, but Gromov said Moscow was using better prepared soldiers from regular units in the already months-long battle for Bakhmut.

Fighting for Bakhmut, north of the regional capital Donetsk, has been so intense that commanders on both sides have referred to it as the “meat grinder”. “The most difficult situation remains in the direction of Bakhmut where the enemy, despite significant losses, does not abandon attempts to surround Bakhmut,” he said.

“To try to capture Bakhmut, the occupiers have used the most prepared units of the regular forces.” Donetsk and Luhansk are two of four regions that Russia has declared part of, although it does not fully control either.

Control of Bakhmut would give Russia a stepping stone to advance on two bigger cities it has long coveted in the Donetsk region: Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. Russia controls nearly a fifth of Ukraine but has suffered a number of setbacks in recent months as Ukrainian forces counter-attacked. After those setbacks, Moscow has reported making incremental gains in recent weeks.

Reuters