UK: Realistic possibility Russia is redeploying troops to Bakhmut
There is a "realistic possibility" Russia has reduced troop numbers around Donetsk city to focus on the battle for Bakhmut, the UK has said.
The Ministry of Defence's (MOD) latest intelligence update reports that Russian offensive action was "decreasing" around Donetsk city, "most likely to divert resources towards the Bakhmut sector".
Bakhmut, which was once home to about 70,000 people, has been largely blasted to ruins following months of intense fighting.
The MOD said Russian and Wagner Group forces continue to make "creeping advances" around Bakhmut.
The ministry added the frontline in Bakhmut largely follows the main railway line, with Ukraine "generally holding Russia's envelopment from the south".
This latest update follows reports that Russia had re-energised its assault on the Donetsk Oblast town of Bakhmut with "improved co-operation" with the mercenary group, Wagner.
"For both sides, the exact sequencing of any major drawdown of their units around Bakhmut has become a critical question, with Ukraine wanting to free up an offensive force while Russia likely aspires to regenerate an operational reserve," the update added.
In March, the Ukrainian defence of Bakhmut was said to be "under increasingly severe pressure".
The MOD said that officials in the besieged city say there is fighting on the streets, but Russia had not yet taken control.
British military intelligence reported that "regular Russian Army and Wagner Group forces have made further advances into the northern suburbs of the city, which is now a Ukrainian-held salient [a battlefield feature that projects into enemy territory], vulnerable to Russian attacks on three sides".
The head of Russia's Wagner Group private army claimed that they had almost completely surrounded Bakhmut, with just limited lines out.
Russia taking the city would represent a costly first victory for Moscow's winter offensive.
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