Ukraine has said it will keep defending in Bakhmut to deplete the Russian offensive (Picture: Getty)

Ukraine has vowed to stay and continue fighting in the ruined city of Bakhmut in an attempt to blunt Russia’s offensive and destroy their units ahead of a planned counterattack in the spring.

Comments made by Mykhailo Podolyak, an aide to President Zelensky, were the latest sign of a shift in tactics by Kyiv this week, who are determined to use their defence of the small eastern city as a means to deplete Russia’s manpower and deny Moscow their first major victory in more than half a year.

‘Russia has changed tactics,’ Podolyak said in an interview published by Italy’s La Stampa newspaper. ‘It has converged on Bakhmut with a large part of its trained military personnel, the remnants of its professional army, as well as the private companies.’

‘We, therefore, have two objectives: to reduce their capable personnel as much as possible, and to fix them in a few key wearisome battles, to disrupt their offensive and concentrate our resources elsewhere, for the spring counter-offensive.

Ukraine is determined to defend Bakhmut and deplete the Russian offensive (Picture: AFP)

‘So, today Bakhmut is completely effective, even exceeding its key tasks.’

Russia has made Bakhmut the main target of a winter push involving hundreds of thousands of reservists and mercenaries.

It has captured the eastern part of the city and outskirts to the north and south, but has so far failed to close a ring around Ukrainian defenders.

Kyiv, which had seemed at the start of March to be planning to withdraw westward, announced this week that its generals had decided to reinforce Bakhmut and fight on.

Trench warfare, described by both sides as a meat grinder, has claimed a huge toll. But Kyiv’s decision to stay and fight suggests it believes Russia’s losses far exceed its own.

In what has been the bloodiest battle of the war by far to date, Ukrainian forces have been reportedly killing Russian troops at a ratio of 7:1.

‘Just spoke with a friend at the Bakhmut front,’ one local reported.

‘A 24 hour, non stop stream of enemy troops, groups of 20-30, most carrying only 2-3 magazines.

‘Intent merely to wear out our guys while they absorb ammo. 

‘Says he estimates personally having killed around 200 in the past 10 days.’

The U.K. defence ministry said in the latest of its regular Twitter updates that units from the Kremlin-controlled paramilitary Wagner Group have captured most of eastern Bakhmut, with a river flowing through the city centre now marking the front line.

Ukrainian forces have been killing Russian troops in the city at a ratio of 7:1 (Picture: Getty)

However, the update added, it will be ‘highly challenging’ for Wagner forces to push ahead as Ukraine has destroyed key bridges over the river, while Ukrainian sniper fire from fortified buildings further west has made the thin strip of open ground in the centre ‘a killing zone.’

At the same time, Ukrainian troops and supply lines in the mining city remain vulnerable to ‘continued Russian attempts to outflank the defenders from the north and south,’ as Russian forces try to close in on them in a pincer movement, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, Russian military bloggers and other pro-Kremlin Telegram accounts on Friday claimed that Russian forces have entered a metal processing plant in northwestern Bakhmut.

A Washington-based think tank late on Friday also referenced geolocated footage showing Russian forces within 800 metres of the AZOM plant, a heavily built-up and fortified complex.

The Institute for the Study of War assessed that Moscow’s apparent focus on capturing the plant, rather than opting for a ‘wider encirclement of western Bakhmut’ by attempting to take nearby villages, is likely to bring a further wave of Russian casualties.

Outside of Bakhmut, the much-vaunted Russian winter offensive has largely failed, with Putin’s forces taking further heavy losses during a three-week battle in nearby Vuhledar which saw Ukrainians destroy more than 130 Russian tanks and armoured vehicles.

Meanwhile, Kyiv is awaiting a surge in Western military aid expected in coming months for an offensive once muddy ground dries in late spring.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is determined to emerge victorious in Bakhmut at any cost (Picture: AP)

Across Ukraine, repair work continued Saturday following a massive Russian missile and drone strike two days earlier that killed six people and left hundreds of thousands without heat or electricity.

However, military observers see signs of exhaustion in Russia’s latest mass salvo of missile strikes, with the lull between attacks suggesting Moscow may be starting to run low on supplies.

‘The interval between waves of strikes is probably growing because Russia now needs to stockpile a critical mass of newly produced missiles directly from industry before it can resource a strike big enough to credibly overwhelm Ukrainian air defences,’ said the British MoD.

Ukrainian resistance may also be starting to have a wider effect on Russia’s economy.

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Ukrainian defenders in Bakhmut are reportedly killing Russian troops at a ratio of 7:1.