"Russia has transferred part of their soldiers from Bakhmut city to this area. I do not know what their future plans are, but they are trying to hit our weak positions in order to edge closer on areas under our control," a Ukrainian mortarman who asked to be called Mariupol, told Rudaw on Wednesday.
More than 40,000 people from the war-battered eastern oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk have been evacuated to safety in the central and western parts of the country.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry says it has retaken seven square kilometers of territory from Russian forces in the direction of Bakhmut in the past week.
Ukraine requested the United States provide it with the Patriot missile defense system to protect itself against Russian projectiles. Earlier this year, around 100 Ukrainian soldiers traveled to the US for training on the defense systems.
