LUGANSK, May 30. /TASS/. Ukrainian army units on Monday attempted to launch an offensive north of Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine) in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), but Russian forces repulsed the attack, Colonel Vitaly Kiselev, a military expert from the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), told TASS on Tuesday.
"On Monday, the enemy tried to advance north of Artyomovsk towards our positions, but our guys repulsed them there," he said.
Kiselev said that, after losing control of Artyomovsk, the enemy had been bombarding the city indiscriminately.
"The enemy cannot accept the fact that Artyomovsk is ours, that it has been liberated. The Ukrainian forces are targeting apartment buildings and private households, where civilians remain. In this way, they are trying to raze Artyomovsk to the ground," he said.
On Monday, Yan Gagin, an adviser to Acting DPR Head Denis Pushilin, said that Ukrainian troops were not trying to retake Artyomovsk but continue to shell the western outskirts of the city.
Artyomovsk, located in the north of the DPR, was an important transport hub for supplying Ukrainian forces in the Donbass and one of the Ukrainian army’s major strongholds. The battle for control of the city began on August 1, 2022, and ended on May 20, 2023. It was one of the largest since the special military operation began.