“What we see is that Russia is throwing extra troops, extra forces and what Russia lacks in high quality they attempt to make up in amount,” Stoltenberg advised reporters in Stockholm on the sidelines of a gathering of EU defence ministers.

“They’ve suffered massive losses, however on the identical time, we can not rule out that Bakhmut might ultimately fall within the coming days.”

The top of the Western army alliance, which backs Ukraine, insisted “additionally it is necessary to spotlight that this doesn’t essentially replicate any turning level of the warfare.

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“It simply highlights that we must always not underestimate Russia. We should proceed to offer assist to Ukraine,” he mentioned.

Russia’s Wagner mercenary group claimed Wednesday to have captured the jap a part of Bakhmut, the economic city the place preventing between Russian and Ukrainian forces has raged for months.

The announcement got here after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that if Bakhmut fell, Moscow would achieve an “open street” for offensives deeper into the nation.

The extreme preventing round Bakhmut has been the longest and bloodiest in Russia’s greater than year-long invasion, which has devastated swathes of Ukraine and displaced thousands and thousands of individuals.

EU ministers had been discussing plans to ramp up defence manufacturing and rush ammunition to Ukraine because it burns by hundreds of howitzer shells every day.

“That is now a warfare of attrition, which is a battle of logistics,” Stoltenberg mentioned.

“The present fee of consumption in comparison with the present fee of manufacturing of ammunition is just not sustainable, and subsequently we have to ramp up manufacturing.”

He welcomed the push by the EU, which shares 21 members states with NATO, to bolster defence output.

“That is one thing we’re engaged on. We’ve got seen necessary steps already being taken,” he mentioned.

“However we have to do extra as a result of we have to make sure that Ukraine will get the ammunition it must defend itself in opposition to Russia’s warfare aggression, and we have to replenish our personal shares.”