Russia-Ukraine war: situation in the east ‘very difficult’, Ukraine’s president says | Ukraine

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Saturday the situation on the frontlines in the east of the country was getting tougher and Russia was throwing more and more troops into battle.

The Kremlin has been pushing for a significant battlefield victory after months of setbacks, with Russian forces trying to close grip on the town of Bakhmut and fighting for control of a nearby major supply route for Ukrainian forces.

Russian troops are also trying to capture the coal mining city of Vuhledar, about 75 miles (120km) south-west of Bakhmut, in the eastern region of Donetsk.

“I’ve often had to say the situation at the front is tough, and is getting tougher, and it’s that time again … The invader is putting more and more of his forces into breaking down our defences,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

“It is very difficult now in Bakhmut, Vuhledar, Lyman and other directions,” he continued.

Earlier in the day, the deputy defence minister, Hanna Malyar, wrote on Telegram that Russian efforts to break the defences in Bakhmut and Lyman had failed.

Lyman, which lies just to the north of Bakhmut, was liberated by Ukrainian forces in October.

“This week, the Russian occupation forces threw all their efforts into breaking through our defence and encircling Bakhmut, and launched a powerful offensive in the Lyman sector,” Malyar said. “But thanks to the resilience of our soldiers, they did not succeed.”

On Friday, Zelenskiy vowed that his forces will fight for Bakhmut “for as long as we can”, but the situation there is becoming increasingly dire for Ukrainian forces.

The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces has been reporting daily numerous combat clashes in the area and Moscow military bloggers have claimed a number of unverified Russian successes along the frontline.

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The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said the situation on the frontlines in the east of the country was getting tougher and Russia was throwing more and more troops into battle.

“I’ve often had to say the situation at the front is tough, and is getting tougher, and it’s that time again … The invader is putting more and more of his forces into breaking down our defences,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Saturday.

“It is very difficult now in Bakhmut, Vuhledar, Lyman and other directions,” he continued.

The Kremlin has been pushing for a significant battlefield victory after months of setbacks, with Russian forces trying to close grip on the town of Bakhmut and fighting for control of a nearby major supply route for Ukrainian forces.

More on that story soon.

In other developments:

• The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said Zelenskiy has agreed that weapons supplied by the west will not be used to attack Russian territory. “There is a consensus on this point,” Scholz told Bild am Sonntag. Scholz rejected Vladimir Putin’s comparison of the intervention of the west with Russia’s struggle during the second world war as “absurd”. “We have carefully weighed each delivery of weapons, in close coordination with our allies, starting with America,” he said, adding that such a consensus-based approach “avoids an escalation”.

• The Ukrainian president has revoked the citizenship of several former influential politicians, in what he said was another step to “cleanse” the country of pro-Russian influences. Zelenskiy would not list the names, but said they had dual Russian citizenship. According to Ukrainian state media, the list includes several top politicians from the office of Viktor Yanukovych, who served as Ukraine’s pro-Russian president from 2010 until he was removed from office in 2014.

• Portugal has become the latest country to say it will send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, the prime minister, António Costa, said. An inventory has been done of its stocks, with Lisbon asking Germany for parts to help repair them so they can be deployed to Ukraine.

• Zelenskiy spoke to UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, on Saturday. The president said he had thanked Sunak for the training of Ukrainian troops so they will be able to use British Challenger tanks.

• The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, has authorised the country to begin using seized Russian money to aid Ukraine, according to US media. The money would come from assets confiscated from Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev after his April indictment for alleged sanctions evasions, he added.

• Ukraine has introduced emergency energy shutdowns in Odesa after a “technological accident” at a high-voltage electricity substation, which has previously been damaged by Russian attacks. Half a million people are without power and officials have warned repairs could take weeks. The government said it would appeal to Turkey for help and ordered the energy ministry’s stocks of high-power generators to be sent to the city.

• Germany has collected evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, the country’s prosecutor general said in a newspaper interview published on Saturday, adding that he saw a need for a judicial process at international level. He said the amount of evidence was in the “three-digit” range.

• More than 18.1m border crossings have taken place out of Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began in February 2022, according to data from the UN.

• The bodies of killed British volunteers Christopher Parry and Andrew Bagshaw have been returned by Russian troops in a prisoner exchange. They were both killed in Ukraine last month. A total of 116 Ukrainian troops have come home after being captured, with 63 being sent back to Russia.

• The number of Russian soldiers around the southern city of Mariupol has increased by about 10,000 to 15,000, according to an adviser to the city’s mayor. Petro Andriushchenko wrote on Telegram that it means the total amount of troops is now about 30,000. They are stationed in villages in the district.