KYIV—Ukraine on Monday welcomed its troops’ advances in areas near the frontline town of Bakhmut, the scene of the longest and fiercest fighting since Russia’s invasion.
“The advance of our troops in the Bakhmut direction is the first success of the offensive in the course of the operation to defend Bakhmut,” said the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Britain on Monday to meet Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who pledged “hundreds” of both air-defense missiles and long-range attack drones to fend off Russia’s invasion.
Zelensky’s arrival, confirmed by the UK government, comes after he secured fresh promises of military aid during weekend visits to France and Germany ahead of a widely expected counter-offensive against Russia.
“The UK is a leader when it comes to expanding our capabilities on the ground and in the air,” Zelensky tweeted before meeting Sunak at the prime minister’s country retreat of Chequers.
Bakhmut, the industrial eastern town that once had around 70,000 residents, has been reduced to rubble after months of brutal fighting that has made it the epicenter of Russia’s invasion.
“The last few days have shown that we can move forward and destroy the enemy even in such extremely difficult conditions,” Syrskyi said.
“We are fighting with fewer resources than the enemy. At the same time, we manage to destroy its plans,” he added.
Syrskyi’s comments come after the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, which is leading the Russian assault on Bakhmut, claimed that regular Russian troops were fleeing the flanks of the town and exposing his forces in its centre.
“This cooperation will continue today. I will meet my friend Rishi. We will conduct substantive negotiations face-to-face and in delegations,” he said.
Sunak noted that the talks were taking place in the buildup to a Council of Europe leaders’ meeting in Iceland — which Zelensky will address by video — and a G7 summit in Japan.
“This is a crucial moment in Ukraine’s resistance to a terrible war of aggression they did not choose or provoke,” the prime minister said in a statement.
“We must not let them down,” he said.
“The frontlines of (President Vladimir) Putin’s war of aggression may be in Ukraine but the fault lines stretch all over the world,” he continued.
“It is in all our interest to ensure Ukraine succeeds and Putin’s barbarism is not rewarded.”
At Chequers, Sunak will confirm “the further UK provision of hundreds of air-defense missiles and further unmanned aerial systems including hundreds of new long-range attack drones with a range of over 200 km” (125 miles), the UK statement said.
“These will all be delivered over the coming months as Ukraine prepares to intensify its resistance to the ongoing Russian invasion.”
The latest shipment comes after Britain last week become the first Western country to offer long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine, with its Storm Shadow rockets.
Britain is the second-largest provider of military assistance to Ukraine after the United States and has added combat flight training to its programme of help, though not fighter jets.