The Russian army claims to have attacked the Azov Regiment command centre in Ukraine.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Russian army attacked a command centre of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment in the southern Zaporizhzhia area on Sunday, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

In its daily briefing on what Russia refers to as the “special military operation” in Ukraine, the ministry did not expand on the strike.

The account could not be independently verified by Reuters.

The Azov Regiment, which has far-right and ultra-nationalist beginnings but is now a unit of Ukraine’s national guard, drew worldwide prominence last year for its resistance to Russia’s siege of Mariupol’s enormous steelworks.

The combat near the eastern city of Bakhmut, which Russian soldiers are attempting to conquer, was not mentioned in the Russian ministry’s Sunday broadcast.

DEFENCE MINISTER IN RUSSIA’S TOP MILITARY BRASS BRIEF

Senior commanders of Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine briefed Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on the present situation and action plans on Sunday, according to his ministry.

According to a statement and videos released by the Defence Ministry on Saturday, Shoigu conducted a rare visit to Russia’s soldiers stationed in Ukraine, distributing medals to military personnel and visiting top commanders.

The minister met with operation commanders, according to a message posted on the ministry’s Telegram social media app on Sunday. It was unclear if the encounter took occurred during the trip.

“Sergei Shoigu gave special attention to the establishment of the required circumstances for the safe deployment of forces in the field, as well as the formation of comprehensive support for troops, particularly the work of medical and rear units.”

Since Moscow launched tens of thousands of Russian soldiers into Ukraine little over a year ago, Russia’s senior military leaders have only made sporadic visits to the front lines.

BRITAIN SAYS UKRAINE IS UNDER SEVERE PRESSURE TO DEFEND BAKHMUT

Ukrainian soldiers holding Bakhmut are coming under increased pressure from Russian forces, according to British military intelligence, with severe battle taking place in and around the eastern city.

According to the British Defence Ministry’s daily intelligence report, Ukraine is reinforcing the region with elite troops, while the regular Russian army and soldiers of the private military Wagner organisation have made additional gains towards Bakhmut’s northern suburbs.

The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces claimed in a Facebook post late Saturday that Russian soldiers were attempting but failing to encircle Bakhmut, adding that defenders had resisted repeated assaults in and around the city.

The conflict has lasted seven months. A Russian triumph in the city, which had a pre-war population of roughly 70,000 but has been blown to smithereens in the assault, would give Moscow the first major prize in a costly winter operation.

Oleh Zhdanov, a famous Ukrainian military expert, said late Saturday that there were no apparent signals that Kyiv would order a withdrawal from the city.

“The situation is now more or less stable. In terms of Russian troop advancement, we effectively halted (it) “He stated this in a YouTube interview.

According to the British defence ministry, two important bridges in Bakhmut have been damaged in the previous 36 hours, limiting Ukrainian-held resupply routes out of the city.

According to the report, one of those bridges linked Bakhmut to the city’s final significant supply route from the Ukrainian-held town of Chasiv Yar, roughly 13 kilometres (eight miles) to the west.

On Friday, Russian artillery bombarded the final ways out of Bakhmut, attempting to complete the city’s encirclement and push Moscow closer to its first significant win in the conflict in six months.

The Ukrainian general staff also said that Russian assaults had been stopped in the villages of Vasyukivka, Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Dubovo-Vasylivka, and Hryhorivka, which are all located close north of Bakhmut.

Russia claims Bakhmut is a necessary step towards completing the conquest of the Donbas industrial zone, one of Moscow’s top priorities.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who has called Bakhmut a “fortress,” congratulated defenders in the city in a video message on Saturday but provided no specifics about the combat.