DIRECT. War in Ukraine: “hard” fighting near Bakhmout because “the Russians had time to prepare”, according to an official

The battle around Bakhmout, a city in the Donetsk region that the Russians have been trying in vain to conquer since the summer, has taken on an even more symbolic importance for Moscow in recent days as its conquest would come after a series of humiliating defeats, with the retreats from Kharkiv (north-east) in September and Kherson (south) in November. According to a bulletin from the Ukrainian presidency this Saturday, the fighting there would be “difficult”, because “the Russians have had time to prepare”.