World News | Russia advances on Bakhmut, bolsters southern defenses

KIEV, Feb. 13 (AP) – Ukraine’s presidential palace said Monday that fierce fighting broke out outside the city of Bakhmut, with at least 5 people killed throughout the war, as Russian forces pushed toward the eastern city with heavy artillery shelling and infantry raids. civilians were killed and many more injured in a country devastated in the past 24 hours.

The situation in Paraskoviivka, a northern suburb of Bakhmut, was “difficult” as Russian troops continued “heavy shelling and storming operations” in the area, the president’s office said. The nearby town of Vuhledar was also heavily bombed.

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Russian forces have shelled more than a dozen cities and villages in the Donetsk region in the past 24 hours, including a missile in Druzhkivka that hit a hospital and Pokrovsk ), shelling damaged seven houses and a kindergarten.

“The shelling intensified and the Russians gathered more forces to attack the peaceful city,” said Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. “We saw a very tough battle, the Russians neither spared themselves nor let pass us.”

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In the neighboring Luhansk region, Russian troops retreated after days of fierce fighting near the key city of Kremina, although they were not “exhausted”, Luhansk Governor Serhii Haidai told Ukrainian television.

In the partially occupied southern region of Kherson, artillery fire has hit more than 20 cities and villages in the past 24 hours, including the regional capital of the same name that Ukrainian forces recaptured in November. Two men were killed in one of the villages when their car ran over a mine.

In the neighboring Dnepropetrovsk region, Russia shelled the city of Nikopol, killing one and wounding two. Shelling also damaged a residential building, a water treatment facility and a university.

Meanwhile, the UK Ministry of Defense said Russian forces were strengthening fortifications on the edge of the front in southern Ukraine to protect their flanks, although their focus was on the Donbas region.

“This is evidenced by the continued construction of fortifications and the deployment of personnel in the Zaporozhye and Luhansk regions,” the ministry said in a Monday briefing.

The U.S. embassy in Moscow has again warned U.S. citizens not to travel to Russia for fear of harassment or detention, urging them to leave immediately if they must.

The warning reads of “potential harassment and individual detention of U.S. citizens by Russian government security officials, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, restrictions on flights into and out of Russia, limited embassy capacity to assist U.S. citizens in Russia, and the possibility of terrorism.”

The embassy also noted that Russian authorities may sweep away U.S. citizens who also hold Russian citizenship to remobilize reservists. “Russia may deny dual nationals U.S. citizenship, deny them access to U.S. consular assistance, mobilize them, prevent them from leaving Russia, and/or conscript them into the military,” the warning reads.

Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine last February, the embassy has issued regular warnings to U.S. citizens not to travel to Russia and, if they have, to leave.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday denied that a second round of mobilization was imminent.

While many fled Donetsk province, where most of the fighting has been concentrated, those who chose to stay depended on sporadic aid for food and water.

In the city of Svyatoshirsk, north of Donetsk, the few surviving residents relied on volunteers from World Central Kitchen to provide food and supplies to cope with the severe cold. Svyatokhsk was liberated by Ukrainian forces in September.

The area was blanketed in snow on Sunday, obscuring the extensive devastation caused by repeated bombing and heavy fighting.

Standing next to the ruins of the city council building, resident Valeriy Andrievskiy said the building was once “beautiful.”

“God forbid our troops retreat, we stay (behind enemy lines). God bless. I will not live anymore,” he said.

Walking near the ruins of her home, Tamara Yevdokimova, 80, said she had been “tortured” by Russian troops.

“I haven’t heard for five months…they (Russians) knocked out my teeth. What can I do?” she said. In her yard, there is the burnt wreckage of a Russian tank.

People who left the front lines to seek safety are still trying to adjust to new lives elsewhere. In Kiev, dozens of people from the Donbass, Kherson and Kharkiv regions are being helped by the Center for Hope and Recovery, which provides temporary shelter and meals.

“These people have left behind what they have earned over the years in the past and it is a very traumatic experience,” said Anna Harkun, director of the centre. She added that they received psychological and medical help, while volunteers help them find jobs and permanent housing.

Russian rockets destroyed the home of 80-year-old Anatoly Zakharenko in the Donetsk village of Terny. His wife, daughter and disabled granddaughter were all evacuated to the city for assistance.

Missing his hometown, he wrote poems to express the pain of being displaced. “I’ll come back to you, trust me,” he said, reading aloud. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)