Views From Space Show Bakhmut Burning As Ukraine Battles To Hold The City

Roads and bridges have been destroyed in the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, where smoke from Russian ordnance was visible to satellites Monday.

The city lies on the front line of Ukraine’s year-long resistance to the Russian invasion that began in February of 2022. It has been the site of some of the most intense and bloody fighting of the protracted conflict.

Satellite imagery from Maxar provides clear views of the damage from nightly artillery attacks by Russian forces that have been advancing on the city from the north, according to the New York Times.

The above imagery taken Monday from orbit shows widespread damage to buildings in the city and some still on fire from recent shelling.

Another shot from the same day shows smoke rising from a recent strike on the southern end of the city:

A key landmark on the edge of the city is the Bakhmutovka River near the front line of fighting on the city’s eastern side.

Maxar’s images show damaged and destroyed bridges over the river.

The damage also extends into residential areas around the war-torn settlement.

Imagery shows craters in roads, houses and neighborhoods in ruins. Smoke was visible from satellites Monday at multiple locations around the city.

The fighting in the region continued as Russia upped the intensity of its attack later in the week. A barrage of hypersonic missiles struck other targets in Ukraine Thursday.

Russia insinuated that the strikes were in retaliation to reported Ukrainian incursions into Russian territory.