Kyiv says forces are holding on in 'utter hell' of Bakhmut battle

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine said on Monday its troops were still holding out in a brutal fight for Bakhmut, while Washington said that even if the eastern city should fall to a Russian offensive, it would not necessarily give Moscow momentum in the war.

In the latest sign of a feud between Russia's military and the Wagner private army leading its Bakhmut assault, Wagner's boss demanded more ammunition and said his aide had been barred from the military's operational headquarters.

Russia is trying to encircle Bakhmut to secure what would be its first major gain in more than half a year, at the culmination of a winter offensive that has brought the bloodiest fighting of the war.

The intense battle has depleted both sides' artillery reserves, with thousands of shells fired daily along the eastern and southern fronts. Kyiv's European allies are working on a deal to procure more ammunition for the fight.

Ukrainian troops have been reinforcing positions west of Bakhmut in apparent preparation for a possible retreat, but so far appear not to have decided to pull out.

Speaking to reporters in the Middle East, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he would not predict when or if Ukrainian troops might leave the city, but that its fall "won't necessarily mean that the Russians have changed the tide of this fight".

"I think it is more of a symbolic value than it is strategic and operational value," Austin said.

Moscow says capturing the city would be a step towards its major objective of seizing the full territory of the surrounding Donbas region. Kyiv says Russia's losses in trying to seize a city reduced to rubble could determine the future course of the war by destroying combat power ahead of decisive battles later this year.

Volodymyr Nazarenko, a Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut, said there had been no order to retreat and "the defence is holding", albeit in grim conditions.

"The situation in Bakhmut and around it is utter hell, as it is on the entire eastern front," Nazarenko said in a video posted on Telegram.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office said he had discussed the operation on Monday with his chief of the general staff and commander of ground forces, who both "spoke in favour of continuing the defensive operation and further strengthening positions in Bakhmut".