Ukraine’s military said it repulsed more than 40 Russian raids in the previous 24 hours along the front in two eastern Donetsk cities.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s general staff reported fighting was strongest in the western approaches to Bakhmut, one of two eastern cities Russia has been targeting along with Avdiivka.
The Russian army had besieged Bakhmut for months in the longest wartime struggle.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy blasted Russian air attacks on Orthodox Palm Sunday in a nightly weekend video message, saying Moscow was further isolating itself.
Russian military hit a residential building in Zaporizhzhia, southeast Ukraine, killing a 50-year-old man and his 11-year-old daughter.
The victims’ wife and mother were found under the rubble.
“This is how the terrorist state observes Palm Sunday,” Zelenskiy stated in his presentation. “This further isolates Russia from the globe.”
He complimented numerous east-defending forces and hoped Palm Sunday next year “would take place with peace and freedom for all our people.”
Most of Ukraine’s 41 million Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter next week.
Pope Francis, who has criticized Russia’s conflict, prayed for peace at Vatican Easter events: “Assist the loving Ukrainian people on their road towards peace, and reflect the light of Easter onto the people of Russia.”
Russia’s military ministry claimed its soldiers damaged a 70,000-tonne fuel store in Zaporizhzhia.
The ministry said the forces damaged Ukrainian army facilities in Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk containing missiles, ammunition, and artillery.
Reuters could not corroborate combat accounts.
Ukraine’s general staff reported repelling 40 hostile strikes in 24 hours.
Soviet forces had failed to move west of Bakhmut, which had 70,000 pre-war residents. Instead, Russian bombardment hit ten towns and villages.
Russian soldiers also failed to advance on Avdiivka, the second eastern battleground, shelled northern districts.
It stated hostile soldiers fortified central Zaporizhzhia and southern Kherson. Shelled towns
South officials stated that Russian planes dropped guided bombs on Kherson villages.
Ukrainian soldiers would defend Bakhmut against repeated Russian advances, but Zelenskiy admitted that troops might be withdrawn if they feared being besieged.
“The enemy is striving to conquer our city-fortress at any cost,” Ukraine’s eastern military command spokeswoman Serhiy Cherevatyi stated on national television.
“It’s hard, but we’re in charge. Our troops are restraining the enemy and inflicting maximum harm.”
Moscow might push on Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, two larger cities in the Donetsk area if it controls Bakhmut.
Ukrainian military researcher Oleh Zhdanov claimed Russian soldiers controlled Bakhmut’s center and focused on the railway station.
“The enemy is progressively pushing toward the western boundaries,” Zhdanov stated.
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