THE TOP COMMANDER of Ukraine’s military has said that his forces are pushing back against Russian troops in the long and grinding battle for the town of Bakhmut.

British military intelligence also says Russia appears to be moving to a defensive strategy in eastern Ukraine.

“The Bakhmut direction is the most difficult. Thanks to the titanic efforts of the defence forces, the situation is being stabilised,” General Valerii Zaluzhnyi said in a post on Telegram giving a synopsis of a telephone call with Admiral Tony Radakin, Britain’s chief of defence staff.

The seven-month battle for Bakhmut, where Russian forces have closed in on three sides, is the longest clash of the war, with Russia deploying both regular soldiers and fighters of the mercenary Wagner Group.

Russian forces must go through Bakhmut to push deeper into parts of the eastern Donbas region, though Western officials say that the capture of the city would have limited impact on the course of the war.

Britain’s Defence Intelligence agency said on Twitter that “Russia’s assault on the Donbas town of Bakhmut has largely stalled. This is likely primarily a result of extreme attrition of the Russian force”.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 25 March 2023.

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Russia is likely shifting its focus towards two other sectors, which “suggests an overall return to a more defensive operational design after inconclusive results from its attempts to conduct a general offensive since January”.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of Donetsk province, where Bakhmut is located, said one civilian was killed in the Bakhmut fighting on Friday and another civilian was killed elsewhere.

Russian rockets hit the town of Kramatorsk during the night, but caused no injuries, Kyrylenko said.

Two people were killed and six injured in Russian firing on the southern Kherson region, the local administration said.