Kyiv holding the line as Russia steps up assault in east Ukraine

Tensions remain high around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

Russia unleashed ground forces, air strikes and artillery as it pressed ahead with a grinding offensive designed to complete its capture of eastern Ukraine.

But Kyiv said yesterday its troops were putting up fierce resistance and holding the line.

Heavy fighting was reported in frontline towns near the eastern city of Donetsk, where Ukrainian officials said Russian troops were launching waves of attacks as they tried to seize control of the industrialised Donbas region.

“The situation in the region is tense. Shelling is constant throughout the front line… The enemy is also using air strikes a great deal,” Donetsk regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told Ukrainian television.

“The enemy is having no success. Donetsk region is holding,” he said.

The Ukrainian military said it repelled ground assaults in the direction of the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka and wiped out Russian reconnaissance units.

Russia gave a different assessment.