KYIV: Ukraine said Friday it was resisting a "high intensity" Russian offensive in Soledar, a town in the eastern Donetsk region where Moscow was deploying more troops.
"It was hot overnight in Soledar. Hostilities continued. The enemy relocated almost all of its main forces to the Donetsk front and is maintaining a high intensity offensive," Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said, adding this was a "difficult phase of the war".
According to analysts at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian forces has likely controlled most if not all of Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region.
The Russian forces have also likely pushed Ukrainian forces out of the western outskirts of the settlement, said the analysts. The ISW cited geolocated footage posted on Wednesday and Thursday.
Italy offered use of its logistics infrastructure, including the Adriatic Sea ports of Venice and Trieste, for Ukraine’s exports, Industry Minister Adolfo Urso said in an interview Friday. Urso had met with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other Ukrainian officials in Kyiv on Thursday.
Ukrainian forces pushed back Russian attacks near 17 settlements mostly in the eastern Donetsk region over the past 24 hours, the General Staff said.