Ukraine claims gains near Bakhmut and presses for Nato membership pledge

Kyiv said its army was regaining ground near the eastern city of Bakhmut, as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy continued a whistlestop diplomatic tour of Nato states to drum up more military aid for his country and backing for its bid to join the alliance.

“The defence forces continue to hold the initiative there, putting pressure on the enemy, conducting assault operations and advancing on the northern and southern flanks,” Ukrainian military spokesman Serhii Cherevatyi said of the situation around Bakhmut.

“Over the past day, they have advanced more than a kilometre,” he said of Ukrainian forces that have been making slow but steady progress in an apparent bid to surround Russian troops who took Bakhmut in May after months of intense shelling and fighting.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, posted video of what he said was a Russian tank being destroyed near Bakhmut and the message: “The defence forces are making progress and advancing. Previously occupied areas were regained.”

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Russia says Ukraine’s troops have made no significant progress since launching a counteroffensive last month and are suffering heavy losses in troops and armour. Both sides conceal their own casualty figures and claim to kill hundreds of enemy soldiers each day.

Kyiv continued to urge allies to provide it with long-range missiles to strike deeper in occupied territory, and to accelerate plans to train its pilots on US-made F-16 fighter jets.

“Without long-range weapons, it is difficult not only to fulfil an offensive mission, but also to conduct a defensive operation. This means that you are defending your land and cannot reach the appropriate distance to destroy your enemy. That is, the enemy has a distance advantage,” Mr Zelenskiy said in Prague on Friday.

Mr Zelenskiy visited Bulgaria on Thursday, then spent the night and Friday morning in the Czech Republic before travelling to neighbouring Slovakia. He is expected to meet Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Friday evening to discuss the war, possible prisoner swaps with Moscow and a deal on grain exports from Ukrainian ports that Russia is threatening to scrap.

“I am convinced that the future of Ukraine is in the European Union, the future of Ukraine is in Nato, and this will ensure that a situation like the one we are experiencing in Europe will not happen again. The Czech Republic is ready to be of maximum assistance,” Czech prime minister Petr Fiala told his guest.

“I expect that all the allies in the North Atlantic alliance will clearly support Ukraine in its aspirations for membership,” he added, looking ahead to next week’s Nato summit in Lithuania. Mr Fiala also said Prague would send attack helicopters, ammunition and F-16 flight simulators to Kyiv “so that training can take place not only in the West but also in Ukraine”.

Ukraine wants to receive clear signals at the summit that it will be allowed to join Nato when the war with Russia is over, and that the alliance will guarantee its security during the accession process.

Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday he expected member states to agree on three things to “bring Ukraine closer to Nato,”: an assistance programme to ensure interoperability of Ukrainian and Nato forces; upgraded political ties; and a reaffirmation that Ukraine will become a member of Nato, along with agreement on how that could happen.

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023