By Leonardo Bennasatto and Lisi Niesner CHASIV YAR, Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukrainian forces clinging to the eastern city of Bakhmut dug new trenches in a.
By Leonardo Bennasatto and Lisi Niesner CHASIV YAR, Ukraine (Reuters) -Russian troops and mercenaries were closing off the last access routes to the besieged Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Friday, on the cusp of Moscow s first major victory in half a year after the bloodiest fighting of the war. The head of Russia s Wagner private army said the city, which has been blasted to ruins, was now almost completely surrounded, with only one route out left open for Ukraine s troops. Reuters journalists west of the city saw Ukrainians digging new trenches for defensive positions there, and the commander of a Ukrainian drone unit inside the city for months said he had been ordered to withdraw. Victory in Bakhmut, with a pre-war population of about 70,000, would give Russia the first major prize of a costly winter offensive after it called up hundreds of thousands of reservists last year. It says it would be a stepping stone to capturing the surrounding Donbas region, an important war aim. Ukraine