DONETSK, May 31. /TASS/. Ukrainian forces will definitely try to retake Artyomovsk (Bakhmut), but the defending Russian forces are ready to face them, says Apty Alaudinov, deputy commander of the LPR 2nd Army Corps, commander of the ‘Akhmat’ special forces.

"Ukrainian forces will, of course, try to take Artyomovsk, they will try to hit us in the flank and in the front, Alaudinov told TASS reporter. […] They will fail, because our forces have completely drove them from the positions they prepared earlier."

"At this moment, the enemy suffers big casualties trying to drive our forces from the occupied positions. I believe that the enemy will sustain increasingly high casualties every day trying to retake Artyomovsk. If the enemy has brains, he will abandon this idea," Alaudinov said.

Artyomovsk is located in northern part of DPR. It used to be an important logistics node for the Ukrainian battlegroup in Donbass, and was one of Ukrainian forces’ strongest defensive lines. The fight for the city started on August 1, 2022, and ended on May 20, 2023. The fight for the city has become one of the largest during the special military operation.