Russian troops were trying to close a circle around the small mining town of Bakhmut on Monday as early spring rain and thaw turned battlefields in eastern Ukraine into mud, potentially hampering both sides in their attempts to seize the initiative, Reuters reported.

The spring thaw, known as the thaw, has long destroyed military offensive plans in Ukraine and western Russia, turning roads into rivers and fields into swamps.

In the Donetsk region, not far from the front line, Ukrainian soldiers huddled in muddy trenches after warm weather softened the frozen ground.

“Both sides are holding on because, as you can see, spring is mud. So it’s impossible to advance,” said 59-year-old Mykola, the commander of the Ukrainian front-line battery of reactive salvo fire systems, who was monitoring the coordinates of the shooting on the tablet screen.

Reuters saw several military vehicles stuck in the mud. In a trench cut in zigzags in the ground, 25-year-old platoon leader Volodymyr says that his men are ready to act in any weather.

“When we’re given a target, it means we have to destroy it,” he says.

Russia is trying to surround Bakhmut, forcing Ukraine to withdraw its garrison. It would give Moscow its first major award in more than six months after one of the bloodiest phases of the war at the time – a relentless Russian offensive that began on frozen ground.

With forces rebuilt with the help of hundreds of thousands of reservists called up late last year, Russia has stepped up its attacks in several locations along the eastern front. Western countries say several Russian attacks have failed at great cost.

But Moscow forces have made it clear, albeit slowly, that they are advancing north and south of Bakhmut in an attempt to cut off Ukrainian forces inside the ruined city, once home to about 75,000 people.

“Fierce battles are going on there. The command is doing everything possible to prevent the enemy from advancing on our territory,” Serhiy Cherevaty, the spokesman of the Eastern Military Command, told Ukrainian television, describing the situation around Bakhmut.

For its part, Moscow said it destroyed a Ukrainian ammunition depot near Bakhmut and shot down American-made missiles and Ukrainian drones. Reuters could not verify reports on the battlefield.

belarus-sua-believes-china-considering-providing-lethal-equipment-to-support-russia-ukraine-little-accuses-the-west-is-trying-to-dismember-russia.htm” target=”Other page” >369th day of war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HOTNEWS.RO.