Ukraine's Bakhmut under fierce shelling:killed thousands of soldiers in recent weeks-target of PUTIN

Multiple explosions and constant shelling were heard on Sunday (December 25) in Bakhmut, an eastern Ukrainian city that has become the target of Russian attempts to advance in recent weeks in fighting that has killed thousands of soldiers. Wrecked apartment blocks, fire and thick grey smoke rising over residential area were seen in the city - all signs of the nearly five-month battle for Bakhmut. Volodymyr, one of a few residents who did not leave, said life in Bakhmut is close to impossible. "It is very loud. Things are shaking and jumping everywhere. We have to survive and we will keep on living. That's it," 61-year-old Volodymyr, who did not give his last name, told Reuters. After suffering a series of defeats in what Moscow calls its "special military operation," Russia is looking for a battlefield victory trying to