(CNN) Russian forces are exhausted in Bakhmut and a Ukrainian counter-offensive could be launched soon, one of Kyiv’s top generals said, raising hopes of an unlikely breakthrough in the besieged city. .
Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, said on his Telegram channel Thursday that “[Russians] lost vital force [in Bakhmut] and ran out of energy.”
“Soon, we will take advantage of this opportunity, as we did before near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliya and Kupyansk,” he said.
His comments come days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise trip to the front lines in the Donetsk region, and will raise hopes in the West that Kyiv’s controversial decision to stay Bakhmut’s troops will pay dividends.
Russian troops have launched more than 200 strikes in the area in the past 24 hours alone but are losing hundreds of men each day in their efforts, a spokesman for the Eastern Grouping of the armed forces said later. on Thursday. CNN could not verify the numbers.
“In the direction of Bakhmut, there is only Wagner, if there is a lack of forces, they are reinforced by Russian air troops, sometimes by infantry,” said Serhii Cherevatyi. “We knocked them down. In fact, there won’t be any more Wagner fighters for a while if they keep up the same dynamic.”
Cherevatyi said another area that saw heavy fire was northeast of Bakhmut, on the front line running north from the town of Kreminna. He claimed that Russia “performed several hundred attacks per day, usually more than 300, sometimes more than 400. There were 344 attacks and 17 combat engagements in the last day.”
A counteroffensive seemed an unlikely prospect for several weeks, as troops from Wagner’s Russian mercenary group bombarded Bakhmut and moved closer to seizing control of the city.
But that effort came at a huge cost in manpower and resources, and now appears to be slow.
Syrskyi said Russian forces continue to try and take the city “at any cost, despite the loss of manpower and equipment.”
“Under continuous fire from enemy artillery and aircraft, our soldiers at the front displayed superhuman strength, courage and bravery,” he said. “In particular, the units of the 93rd, 10th, 57th and 5th Brigades that are currently defending our homeland in the east of the country.”
His optimism was reflected in an update on Wednesday from the General Staff of the Ukrainian military, which said in a statement that while Bakhmut is still expected to see heavy fighting, the “offensive potential” of Russia declined there.
“The enemy continues to try to take the city, losing a significant amount of manpower, weapons and military equipment,” it said on Wednesday.
Western intelligence has a similar tone. “The tempo of Russian operations around Bakhmut appears to be slowing,” the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank wrote in its Wednesday update on the conflict.
But that shift could also reflect a shift in Russia’s priorities. “There is a realistic possibility that the Russian attack on the city has lost the limited momentum it gained, partly because some Russian MoD units have been relocated to other sectors,” the British Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday.
Zelensky handed out awards to the troops defending Bakhmut during a morale-boosting trip on Wednesday. “It is an honor for me to support our warriors who are defending the country in the most difficult conditions on the front lines,” he said later in his nightly address.
The high resistance of Ukrainian troops may further justify his decision to ignore some Western calls for a tactical withdrawal from Bakhmut as the Russian offensive closes.
“This is tactical for us,” Zelensky told CNN earlier this month, laying out his decision-making and insisting that Kyiv’s military brass is united in extending its defense of the city.
“We understand that after Bakhmut they can go further. They can go to Kramatorsk, they can go to Sloviansk, it will be an open road for the Russians after Bakhmut to other cities of Ukraine, in the direction of Donetsk, ” he said.
CNN’s Tim Lister and Victoria Butenko contributed reporting.