The Ukrainian defense forces focused their efforts on ensuring control over the supply route towards Bakhmut, so the key event of the last week was the fighting on the outskirts of this town, especially near the village of Khromove, according to analysts of British intelligence.

“Heavy, short-range combat continues in the western districts of the contested Donetsk Oblast town of Bakhmut,” according to the defense intelligence report published on Twitter by the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on Wednesday morning.

As reported, a key development over the last week has been fighting on the outskirts of the town, especially near the village of Khromove, as Ukraine seeks to maintain control of its 0506 supply route. Ukraine’s other resupply options into Bakhmut are likely complicated by muddy conditions on unsurfaced tracks, the British Intelligence reports.

“With the town having now been under attack for over 11 months, the Ukrainian defences of Bakhmut have now been integrated as one element of a much deeper defensive zone, which includes the town of Chasiv Yar to the west,” the analysts said.