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Is Russian firepower starting to show in Ukraine's east?

Jeremy Bowen

Reporting from Dnipro

Russian forces in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region have pushed forward and taken some ground, according to information in the latest Ukrainian military briefing.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned the Russians for destroying the area.

That could be code for admitting the weight of Russian firepower is starting to tell.

These are not big advances – it’s mile by mile and village by village - but it looks as if the Russians are reaping their first tactical success in weeks from tried and trusted methods of advance behind heavy bombardments.

The Ukrainian military says the Russian army is advancing in the areas of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk.

The Ukrainians say a strategic highway between Bahmut and Lysychansk is blocked by Russian artillery placed five kilometres from the road.

In Bakhmut, a city that had a population of around 75,000 before the war, shelling and airstrikes have started fires.

Ukraine has its own artillery and is firing back. But it’s not clear how many of the modern 155mm howitzers supplied by the US have managed to reach battlefields in the east.

The surrender of Ukrainian forces in Mariupol could also release Russian reinforcements for their offensive in Donbas.