The eastern frontline city of Bakhmut has seen some success for Russian forces, according to Ukrainian military officials, who also noted that their fighters were still holding on in a battle that has lasted months and cost both sides a lot of lives.

The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog organization in southern Ukraine claimed that there had been a significant increase in the number of troops near the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia power plant and that it could no longer be protected.

The eastern industrial region of Donetsk's mining city of Bakhmut and its surrounding towns have been the main targets of Russian attacks for most of the past 13 months.

In a regular report published late on Wednesday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces stated that "Enemy forces had a degree of success in their actions aimed at storming the city of Bakhmut,"

The city is being held by our defenders, who are also successfully fending off numerous enemy assaults.

Since the beginning of March, the general staff of Ukraine has reported fewer Russian attacks on the front line on average every day; this number has decreased for four weeks in a row, from 124 the week of March 1–7 to 69 over the past seven days. On Wednesday, only 57 attacks were reported.

Russian officials claim their troops are still making gains inside Bakhmut as they fight street by street.

Despite fears of a nuclear disaster, Russian troops captured the Zaporizhzhia power station in the first few weeks of the war a year ago, and attempts to stop the fighting and shelling around it have failed.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi informed Russian reporters during a second visit to the plant on Wednesday that there had been a "significant increase" in the number of troops in the area.

"It is clear that military activity is rising across the board in this area," he said. "As a result, the plant cannot be protected."

Grossi stated that to put forth specific security measures acceptable to Russia and Ukraine, he was setting aside plans for a security perimeter around the plant.

The plant was a prized component of Ukraine's energy infrastructure and produced about 20% of the country's electricity prior to the invasion. Since September, when the last of its six reactors was shut down, it has not produced any electricity.

Since Grossi visited the facility in September amid growing concerns about a possible nuclear accident, the IAEA has had monitors stationed there.

According to the Ukrainian general staff, Russian forces shelled towns in the central Zaporizhzhia region, including the contentious city of Hulyaipole.

Oleh Zhdanov, a military veteran from Ukraine, said that although the offensive on Bakhmut was still going strong, "the conclusion is that Russian troops are beginning to rush about from place to place"

According to a YouTube video by Zhdanov, "it now appears that the enemy has shifted its focus to the city itself—that is where the heaviest fighting is now taking place," because that is where the most intense fighting is currently occurring.

Roman Svitan, a colonel in the Ukrainian reserves, and another military analyst from Ukraine, claimed that the situation in Bakhmut has stabilized and that the Ukrainians' primary objective there—to destroy Russian forces—has been accomplished.

While losses were unavoidable, Hanna Malyar, Ukraine's deputy defense minister, claimed that "the enemy's losses are many times greater"

The Ukrainian military also reported that towns on the west bank of the Dnipro River, which divides the nation in half, as well as Kherson city in the south, were once again being shelled.

According to the Ukrainian air force, a Russian Su-24M bomber was destroyed. An ammunition depot, two fuel depots, and two areas of concentration of Russian forces were all hit within the previous 24 hours, it claimed.

To lessen a threat to its security, Russia launched what it called a "special military operation," which resulted in the deaths of thousands of troops on both sides, the displacement of tens of thousands of civilians in Ukraine, and the displacement of millions. The invasion also affected international relations and the world economy.

In response to Russia's invasion, which they see as an imperialistic land grab, Britain, the United States, and other European allies of Ukraine have given it weapons and financial support.