yes. and will you have any concerns? in the field.no. on the town, i have forbidden for this. because it s not humane. oleksandr syrskyi is the general in charge of all military operations in the east. this is a command vehicle, yes? yes. the mastermind behind the defence of kyiv and the successful offensive in kharkiv. unlike many russian commanders, he s lionized by his troops. and now his eyes are firmly set on retaking bakhmut. and you will take it back, bakhmut? yes, of course i try to do it. the offensive has been going on for more than a month now. even president zelensky has said it is slower than ukraine had hoped for. is that true?
on bakhmut, with a constant live feed from dozens of drones. the commander admits they re suffering losses, but not on the same scale as the russians. translation: we ve taken the initiative. l the enemy is bringing in troops and wants to escape the trap. but they re in trouble. bakhmut could be encircled. ukraine is using all it can to break the russian defences. ..from the ground. ..and from the air. but it s still outgunned and having to spread its limited resources on several fronts. but it will soon have a new weapon us supplied cluster bombs fired from these same american howitzers. this gun, will you use cluster munitions in this gun? yes, yes. you will?
translation: we would i like to get very fast results, but in reality, it s practically impossible. this entire area is well prepared with defences, so all advances are not going as fast as we would like. so far, the advances have only been modest. most of the front remains relatively static. these ukrainian trench lines in the east haven t budged since 2014. ukraine has still to commit all its forces, but it s yet to break through russia s heavily mined main lines of defence. jonathan beale, bbc news, eastern ukraine. the future of the commonwealth games has been thrown into doubt after the australian state of victoria announced it was pulling out of hosting the event in 2026. officials said they could no longer afford to stage them, as costs had tripled, but the commonwealth games federation said they were hugely disappointed by the decision.
bakhmut isn t over. the city is now held by the russians, but we travelled with ukrainian forces who are trying to take it back. their advance is still slow and meeting resistance. again. explosion. they try to fire back with their finnish supplied mortar, but even western weapons can occasionally malfunction. explosion that was a russian shell landing. their positions are just about three kilometres away from here. last time i was near here, two months ago, it was the ukrainians losing ground and in danger of being surrounded. now, it s the other way round. this is the bunker from where ukraine s coordinating the offensive
one of several targets. ukraine s military has hit over the past 24 hours. in the southern part of the country, officials say a russian occupied village has fallen. russia for its part denies that report. the governor of russia s region says they endured more than two dozen strikes. they damaged several buildings including a sugar factory and knocked out power lines. mason clark joins us now. the lead analyst for the institute for the study of war. a lot happening on multiple fronts. walk us through what you are seeing. absolutely. ukrainian forces are still in the preparatory phases of their much-anticipated, long prepared for counteroffensive. they are attacking at four different points along the line. bakhmut in eastern ukraine, city in southeastern ukraine and in two areas near