Ukraine announced a number of deaths in Russian raids on areas in the Donetsk region, at a time when the Kyiv authorities are continuing their negotiations with Western countries on obtaining long-range missiles.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Russian raids on the city of Konstantinivka in the Donetsk region, in the east of the country, resulted in 3 deaths and 14 injuries.
The governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kirilenko, had announced earlier that "the Russians bombed a residential area, and damaged buildings of 4 floors, a hotel, garages and vehicles."
And the Al-Jazeera correspondent quoted Ukrainian military sources as saying that the situation in the town of Oglidar in eastern Ukraine is difficult, but it is under control.
On the other hand, the pro-Russian authorities in Donetsk described the battles taking place near Oglidar as violent, and announced that the Russian forces were stationed in the eastern and southeastern parts, and now controlled the villages surrounding the city.
It pointed out that what hinders storming the city is the presence of an industrial zone used by Ukrainian forces as fortified sites, as they did in the salt mines in Solidar, and the "Azovstal" complex in Mariupol.
Battles in Bakhmut
Meanwhile, the Russian "Anna News" agency said that Wagner's militias began to invade the towns of Krasnoye, west of Bakhmut, and Delievka, south of the city.
She added that fierce battles were taking place inside Bakhmut, and confirmed the continued progress of the Russian forces in the north of the city of Solidar, where they began launching offensive operations in the Razdolovka area, according to her statement.
Until now, Kyiv confirms that the city of Bakhmut - which was inhabited by about 70 thousand before the war - is under the control of its forces.
For months, the Russian Wagner forces have launched an attack on the city in order to control it and open the way for the Russian regular forces towards the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, two of the largest cities in the Donbass region, the industrial basin of Ukraine, parts of which the pro-Moscow separatists took control of in 2014.
Zelinsky called for the American-made ATACMS missile (Anatolia)
Missile negotiations
On the other hand, Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said - yesterday, Saturday - that urgent talks are underway between Kyiv and its allies regarding Ukraine's requests for long-range missiles, which it says are necessary to prevent Russia from destroying Ukrainian cities.
Ukraine has received promises of combat tanks from Western countries, and is also demanding combat aircraft to respond to Russian forces and their loyal forces advancing slowly along part of the front line.
"To significantly reduce (the effect of) the main weapon of the Russian army, which is the artillery it uses today on the front, we need missiles that destroy their depots," Podolyak added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in separate statements that Ukraine needs the American-made ATACMS missile, which has a range of 297 kilometers, and Washington has so far refrained from providing this weapon.