[TheGuardian] Ukrainian forces defending Bakhmut are facing increasingly strong pressure from Russian forces, according to British military intelligence, with intense fighting taking place in and around the eastern city.
Ukraine is reinforcing the area with elite units, while the regular Russian army and forces of the Russian private military Wagner group have made further advances into Bakhmut’s northern suburbs, the UK Ministry of Defence said in its daily intelligence bulletin on Twitter.
The city’s deputy mayor, Oleksandr Marchenko, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: "There is fighting in the city and there are also street fights, but thanks to the Ukrainian armed forces they still haven’t taken control over the city."
He said of the Russian attack: "Their only goal is killing people and the genocide of the Ukrainian people ... the tactic that the Russians are using is the tactic of parched land. They want to destroy Bakhmut, they want to destroy the city ... and I honestly can’t understand why they’re doing this."
He added: "The city is almost destroyed and there’s not a single building that has remained untouched in this war. There are completely destroyed, districts, buildings and apartment blocks."
Gen Sir Richard Shirreff, a former Nato deputy supreme allied commander for Europe, said if Russia succeeded in taking Bakhmut, it would be a "Pyrrhic victory". 
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