Ukrainian troops faced a truly difficult situation in the city of Bakhmut, but Kyiv will take “appropriate” decisions to protect them if they risk being surrounded by Russian troops, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

The Ukrainian leader said at a press conference in Poland that Kyiv troops in Bakhmut sometimes advanced a little to be repulsed by Russian forces, but remained inside the city.

“The largest amount of weapons and artillery is used there. The situation is very, very difficult there. And there is not enough every day. We have artillery, sometimes there are enough shells from our side, sometimes less. This happens every day. In some areas of Bakhmut, we are successful, we are going advance or not and retreat to our positions again. But we are in Bakhmut, and the enemy does not control Bakhmut. This is the situation today,” Zelenskyy said.

The fighting in Bakhmut, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, was one of the bloodiest in the full-scale Russian invasion, now in its second year. Ukrainian forces withstood the Russian attack there with heavy losses on both sides.

“For me, the most important thing is that we do not lose our military, and, of course, if there is a moment of even hotter events and the threat of losing personnel due to the environment – of course, accordingly, the generals will make the right decisions there,” he said.

The comment seems to be a reference to the recall idea.

Zelensky spoke at a press conference together with the President of Poland in Warsaw.

His trip comes as Ukraine expects to launch a counteroffensive to retake territory in the south and east from Russian forces in the coming weeks or months.

Zelenskyy said that the more ammunition Ukraine receives from its Western partners, the faster it will be able to respond in Bakhmut and other places.

Old disagreements on the topic of Ukraine’s possible exit from Bakhmut are possible

At the beginning of March, the German tabloid Bild wrote, based on sources, that there were disagreements between Volodymyr Zelensky and the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valery Zaluzhny, which would recommend a tactical exit from Bakhmut.

Volodymyr Zelenskyi then assured his compatriots that he had discussed with the main command of the army and the heads of the special services, and they were all of the opinion that the Ukrainian forces should continue resistance and defend this bastion of Donbas, which was destroyed. was besieged by Russian forces for several months.

“Society must understand the meaning of our defense operations, the true meaning. Today, at the meeting of the General Staff, I directly asked Commander Sirskyi (Olexander Sirskyi, commander of the Eastern Operation – no), and Chief of Staff Zaluzhnyi, how they see the further development of the defensive operation in the Bakhmut direction. Should we retreat or continue to defend and fortify the city? Both generals answered: we are not retreating and are strengthening. And this position was unanimously supported by the General Staff. There were no other positions,” Zelenskyi said.

“I told the Chief of the General Staff to find the appropriate forces to help those in Bakhmut. There is no part of Ukraine that can be said to be abandoned. (…) We destroy the occupier everywhere – wherever it gives results for Ukraine. Bakhmut gave and gives one of the greatest results during this war, for the entire battle for Donbas. And I thank every soldier who fights in this extremely difficult area, who fights for the rest of our country, in all directions,” Zelenskyy said.

The video, released by Wagner’s militants and the Institute for the Study of War and CNN, shows Russian mercenaries raising the group’s flag on a building near the center of the besieged Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Wagner’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin stated that he would actually fly the flag on the administration building in Bakhmut, but according to ISW and CNN, the said building would be 400 meters away from the administration building.

A spokesman for Ukraine’s Eastern Military Command told Reuters it was unclear where Russian forces had raised their flag and that they had falsely claimed to have captured the city.

“They raised a flag over some toilet. They attached it to I don’t know what (building), hung a canvas and said that they captured the city. OK, let them think that he was conquered,” official Serhiy Cherevaty said by phone.