Ukrainian troops do not plan to leave Artemovsk (the Ukrainian name is Bakhmut), Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the President of Ukraine, said on February 19.

“We have no plans to leave,” he stressed in an interview with a British newspaper. The Sunday Times.

In addition, Yermak said that the Ukrainian authorities have asked the Swedish audio streaming service Spotify to remove Russian artists who support the Russian authorities from their catalogs, as well as BP and Shell, urging them to abandon projects with the Russian side and stop “making a profit”. from Russian raw materials.

A day earlier, the commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the call sign Magyar addressed the participants of the Munich Security Conference, noting that Artemivsk is the hottest point of the front. He stressed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine every minute suffer losses in Artemovsk.

Meanwhile, Advisor to the Acting Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Yan Gagin said that the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was evacuated from Artemovsk a few days ago. At the same time, he added that the Ukrainian side is trying to transfer additional units and weapons to Artemovsk, however, these attempts are stopped by the artillery of the RF Armed Forces.

On February 17, Russian troops took control of the village of Paraskovievka, 9 km from Artemovsk.

The day before, Igor Kimakovsky, adviser to the acting head of the DPR, said that the Russian military had taken all the heights in the vicinity of Artemovsk. He added that many foreign mercenaries were seen in this direction.

On February 24 last year, the Russian side launched a special operation to protect Donbass. The decision was made against the background of the aggravation of the situation in the LPR and DPR as a result of increased shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

For more up-to-date videos and details about the situation in Donbass, watch the Izvestia TV channel.