(REUTERS/Oleksandr Klymenko)
Russia’s Ministry of Defense confirmed it is retreating forces from Bakhmut, Ukraine, which Russian forces have been trying and failing to seize for months.
Russia has regrouped to “more advantageous defensive positions” north of Bakhmut, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Friday.
The news comes after months of Russian efforts to take Bakhmut, which officials set their sights on as an important city to capture, believing it could determine the course of the war. Bakhmut has an intersection of rail and roads that lead to strategically important cities in the Donbas. Russia finds itself on the backfoot as Ukraine prepares to launch a counteroffensive sometime this spring or summer, according to U.S. intelligence assessments.