A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said talks were taking place about acquiring long-range missiles and attack aircraft from supporting countries, and this came as fighting rages near the strategic city of Bakhmut amid reports of its encirclement.

"Each stage of the war requires certain weapons. The mobilization of Russian reservists in the occupied territories requires certain things from (Ukraine) and partners," Mykhailo Podolyak, political advisor to the Ukrainian president, wrote on Twitter.

He added, "Therefore: 1- There are special arrangements for tanks (logistics, training and supply). 2- There are talks about providing long-range missiles and attack aircraft."

This came after Reuters quoted US officials as saying that a new package of military aid worth $2.2 billion will be announced this week at the earliest and will include, for the first time, small-diameter ground bombs, a new weapon designed by Boeing.


The new rocket

Those missiles can hit targets more than 150 kilometers away, nearly twice the range of the HIMARS missile system of 80 kilometers, which changed the course of the war when it was sent by Washington last summer.

This may mean that every inch of Ukrainian territory controlled by Russia, with the exception of most of the Crimean regions, could soon be within the range of Ukrainian forces' fire, and this forces Moscow to move some ammunition and fuel storage sites into Russian territory.

This comes a week after Western countries pledged to send dozens of advanced combat tanks to support the Ukrainian army for the first time since the start of the war.

For its part, Moscow said that sending long-range US missiles to Ukraine would lead to escalation, but would not change the course of events.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters today that these missiles will lead to "an escalation of tension, an increase in the level of escalation."

"We see that this will require us to make additional efforts, but it will not change the course of events. The military operation will continue," he added.


Bakhmut battles

On the ground, fierce battles are taking place near the strategic city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, amid news from the Russian side that it has been encircled.

Jan Gagin, an aide to the acting pro-Russian leader of Donetsk, said that the Russian armed forces have tightened the cordon on the city of Pakhmut in Donetsk Province.

Gagin added - in statements to Russian media - that the city is currently under a tight siege, and that battles are taking place to control the highway southwest of the city.

For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that its forces had taken control of important sites and destroyed a weapons and ammunition depot for Ukrainian forces in Donetsk.

On the other hand, a spokesman for the Ukrainian forces said that fierce fighting was taking place near Bakhmut, and that Russian forces bombed the area more than 150 times.

Earlier, Ukrainian military sources said that the battles are taking place in the east and north of the city of Bakhmut, and confirmed that despite the difficult situation, it is "under control."

On the other hand, Reuters news agency quoted a soldier in a Ukrainian unit composed of volunteers from Belarus as saying from inside Bakhmut that the forces are fighting from one building to another to achieve gains that do not exceed 100 meters per night, adding that the city is under continuous Russian bombardment.


The importance of Bakhmut

Bakhmut has been a major focus of fighting between the two parties for several months, and its importance is highlighted in the Russian forces' search for the first major victory in months, which prompted them to change their military tactics, according to what was reported by the American newspaper "The New York Times".

From missile strikes to pushing large human waves of fighters to storm the Ukrainian defense lines.

Bakhmut is of strategic importance, as it is located on both banks of the Pakhmutovka River in the north of Donetsk Province in the Donbass region, about 600 kilometers from the capital, Kyiv.

For the Ukrainians, the city of Bakhmut is a fortress to defend the rest of the cities of Donetsk, from which strikes are directed against the Russian positions.

The city is of importance to the Russians, after losing the city of Izium, south of Kharkiv, as Bakhmut became the almost only southeastern gateway for the advancement of Russian forces in Donetsk.

Bakhmut is also an important transportation point, with a railway linking the south and east of the Donetsk basin to the west and north of Ukraine.