Ukrainian Pres. Zelenskyy; We will defend Bakhmut "for as long as we can,"

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to defend the city of Bakhmut "for as long as we can," while hosting European Union chiefs in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Friday.

Nearly a year after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Bakhmut has become the epicentre of fighting and Moscow's forces have made small territorial gains in the region in recent weeks at the cost of heavy losses.

'Start to end the occupation of Donbass'
"No one will abandon Bakhmut (...) We will fight for as long as we can," Zelenskyy said after a summit with senior European officials. He called the city a "fortress".

"If (Western) arms deliveries to Kyiv accelerate, especially long-range weapons, not only will we not retreat from Bakhmut, (but) we will start to end the occupation of Donbass," a partly Russian-held eastern region, he added.