Ukrainian defenders continued to hold out against a fresh wave of Russian assaults in the fiercely contested eastern city of Bakhmut despite Russian claims of advances, the military said on May 10, as the European Union discusses a fresh batch of sanctions against Moscow over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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Russian forces carried out 46 attacks on the positions of Ukrainian forces on the Bakhmut-Avdiyivka-Maryinka front line in the eastern region of Donetsk, where Moscow has been focusing its main efforts, Ukraine's General Staff reported on May 10 in its daily update.
In addition to continuous shelling, Russian forces also used aircraft to attack Ukrainian positions in Avdiyivka, the military said.
Russia has made claims of advances around the fiercely contested city of Bakhmut, which Moscow reportedly wanted to capture outright in time for May 9 Victory Day celebrations, but a Ukrainian military unit on May 10 said the situation on the ground was the opposite, with Russian forces abandoning their positions in the city in weekend fighting.
The press service of the unit quoted Andriy Biletskiy, a commander of a tactical group within the unit, as saying that two companies of a Russian brigade were “completely destroyed” in the operation.
"Brigade reconnaissance was broken, a significant number of armored vehicles were captured, and many prisoners were captured,” Biletskiy said on Telegram, adding that forces of the Wagner private mercenary group suffered “heavy losses.”
The operation resulted in the liberation of more than 7 square kilometers of territory, Biletskiy said. The retreat of the 72nd Separate Motor-Rifle Brigade is what Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin referred to on May 9 when he said Russian forces had fled around Bakhmut, he said. He also said he had lost around 500 soldiers in the battle.
The claim could not be independently verified, and Moscow has not commented on the report.
Late on May 10, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia's military operation against Ukraine is "very difficult" but that certain goals have been achieved. Russia has succeeded in severely damaging Ukraine's military machine and this work will continue, Peskov said, according to TASS.
Prigozhin has gone back and forth with claims on the situation in Bakhmut in recent days, especially regarding support he was getting from Moscow.
He claimed on May 9 that his forces were inching forward in Bakhmut but then accused the Russian Defense Ministry of failing to supply his fighters with enough ammunition and admitting that several kilometers of front line territory was lost.
On May 10, he reiterated his complaints, saying his troops are still not receiving sufficient ammunition from the Russian Defense Ministry.
In an audio statement on Telegram, Prigozhin said his units have been getting just 10 percent of the ammunition they need, accusing the Defense Ministry of holding long meetings on the delivery of ammunition to Wagner that bring no results.
The Defense Ministry has not commented on Prigozhin's latest statement, but the Kremlin said hours earlier that it had not seen Prigozhin's appeal for more ammunition a day earlier.
Early on May 10, the governor of the Russian region of Kursk, which borders Ukraine said that an "enemy drone" had been shot down.
Roman Starovoit claimed the drone had been shot down near Kursk, and the debris fell in the village of Tolmachovo, causing some material damage.
His claim could not be independently verified.
In Brussels, EU envoys are holding a first debate on May 10 on a proposed new batch of sanctions -- the 11th -- over Russia's war in Ukraine. The package would also take aim at Chinese and Iranian firms that support Russia, and allow export curbs on third countries that violate existing trade restrictions.
Talks are expected to be heated, according to diplomatic sources quoted by Reuters, and a rapid deal is not expected.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the new sanctions would focus on cracking down on the circumvention of curbs on trade already in place.
"If we see that goods are going from the European Union to third countries and then end up in Russia, we could propose to the member states to sanction those goods' export. This tool will be a last resort and it will be used cautiously," she said.