Europe 1 with AFP 11:58 am, April 10, 2023, modified at 12:01 pm, April 10, 2023

On the 410th day of the Russian invasion, the head of the Russian occupation of Ukraine's Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, visited the center of Bakhmut, the epicenter for months of fighting in Ukraine and where the Russians seem to be advancing.

THE ESSENTIALS

The head of the Russian occupation of Ukraine's Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, visited the center of Bakhmut, the epicenter of months of fighting in Ukraine and where the Russians appear to be advancing, according to a video released Monday.

Denis Pushilin posted these images on Telegram in which he is seen in combat gear in a debris-covered square that appears to be Freedom Square in the center of Bakhmut.

>> READ ALSO - Macron in China: Xi Jinping calls on all parties not to aggravate the situation in Ukraine

"This is our Artyomovsk (Russian name for Bakhmut) being liberated by (Russian paramilitary group) Wagner. The enemy does not spare the city, nor his own, pushing them into a meat grinder," he says in this short undated video.

Ukrainian forces lose ground

In recent days, Ukrainian forces appear to have lost ground in the city center, where several Russian war correspondents have visited in recent days and whose reports show a devastated city.

A city of some 70,000 inhabitants before the conflict, Bakhmut has been the scene of terrible fighting for months. Due to the length of the battle and the heavy losses suffered by both sides, the city became the symbol of the struggle between Russians and Ukrainians for control of the industrial region of Donbass.

>> READ ALSO - Moscow accuses Ukraine, Navalny's 'agents' of killing military blogger

Russian troops have advanced in recent months north and south of Bakhmut, cutting off several Ukrainian supply routes and seizing its eastern part. In recent days, they seem to be making progress in the centre, again fuelling speculation about a forthcoming Ukrainian withdrawal.