Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that Russian forces are trying to advance - today, Saturday - west of the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk Province (eastern Ukraine) in an attempt to tighten its encirclement, while a Russian site spoke of a huge Ukrainian military build-up in the south.

Al-Jazeera correspondent said that Russian forces are advancing in villages and towns west of Bakhmut, and that the Ukrainian army is trying to confront them.

He pointed to the intensification of the mutual shelling in this area, through which the last supply routes for the Ukrainian forces pass.

The Russian attempts to advance from the west come 3 days after the fighters of the Russian private military group, Wagner, took control of the eastern part of Bakhmut.

In its daily assessment of field developments in Ukraine, British Ministry of Defense intelligence said that Ukrainian forces and their supply lines to the west in Bakhmut are still vulnerable to the ongoing Russian attempts to surround the city's defenders.

And she added - in a tweet via Twitter - that the defensive strategy of the Ukrainian forces makes it difficult for Wagner's forces to continue their offensive from the western side.

This small city, which had a population of about 70,000 before the war, and now only about 3,000 are left, has been under continuous Russian attack since last August.

And Kiev recognizes that the fall of the city in the hands of the Russians will allow them to advance towards other major cities in Donetsk, such as Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.


Bakhmut battles

In the details of the battle taking place in Bakhmut, the founder of the Russian "Wagner" group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced that his forces had become about 1.2 kilometers from the city's administration building after they took control of the eastern bank of the Bakhmutka River.

Prigozhin published a video clip, saying that he had climbed one of the tallest buildings in Bakhmut, and praised - while touring within the areas controlled by his forces - Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his chief of staff Valery Gerasimov, describing them as two brilliant military leaders, stressing his support in general for their ideas regarding the military operation in Ukraine, and Prigozhin saw His media debate with them is of no value.

And the Russian military website "Anna News" reported that Wagner's forces crossed the Bakhmutka River, which divides the city of Bakhmut into two parts, and that they are advancing towards the city center.

However, British intelligence said that Wagner's forces are facing a challenge to cross towards the west of the city, given that the Ukrainian forces are fighting in fortified places after destroying the bridges linking the west and east of the city.

For its part, the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command said - in a statement - that the Ukrainian army continues to repel Russian attacks on the city of Bakhmut.

The statement added that the commander of the eastern group, General Oleksandr Sersky, continues his work in the most important combat areas of the Bakhmut front, stressing the involvement of all forces and resources that prevent the Russians from achieving their plan to advance on the battle fronts in the city.

In a post on his Facebook page, Sersky said that it was necessary to gain time in Bakhmut to accumulate reserves and start a counterattack in the spring, adding that Bakhmut was still under the control of his forces and that Ukrainian forces were pushing reinforcements to prevent Russia from taking control of the city and forcing its fighters to retreat.

Ukrainian soldiers returned from the Bakhmut Front to the nearby city of Shasiv Yar in Donetsk (Anatolia)

Ukrainian crowds in Zaporizhia

In another development, the Russian RIA Novosti agency quoted a member of the (pro-Russian) Zaporizhia District Council, Vladimir Rogov, as confirming that he had monitored the transfer of large groups of Ukrainian forces from Zaporizhia to the Bakhmut region.

Rogov said that the Ukrainian army is currently mobilizing about 70,000 soldiers on the Zaporizhia axis (southeast).

Ukrainian forces control the city of Zaporizhia, while the Russian army controls several areas of the province.

And at the beginning of this year, fighting escalated again in Zaporizhia after a period of stalemate that lasted for months.