Ukraine said it had fended off a day of Russian attacks in and around the destroyed eastern city of Bakhmut and made gains of up to a kilometer while gaining time for “certain planned actions.”

According to Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar on her Telegram channel, Ukraine’s forces advanced 500 meters in the north and by one kilometer in some regions of the south while Russia increased its forces within the city, launched an offensive on the northern suburbs, and engaged in severe battle in the southern suburbs.

“The defence of Bakhmut and its outskirts is meeting its military objectives,” she said. “As of now, we control the southwestern part of Bakhmut.”

She said that Russia had attacked Bakhmut all day having “significantly strengthened” its grouping in Bakhmut by bringing most of its reserves there.

“All the attacks were repelled by our defenders,” she added.

Kyiv has for days been hailing battlefield successes around Bakhmut that could eventually trap forces of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group inside the city. Wagner is spearheading the Russian assault on the city.

Moscow sees Bakhmut, a city of about 70,000 before Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly 15 months ago, as a stepping stone toward capturing the rest of the eastern Donbas region.