War’s longest battle exacts high price in ‘heart of Ukraine’


              FILE Ukrainian servicemen prepare to fire at Russian positions in the frontline near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2022. (AP Photo/LIBKOS, File)
            
              FILE - Ukrainian soldiers rest near their position in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/LIBKOS, File)
            
              FILE Smoke billows after Russian attacks in the outskirts of Bakhmut, Ukraine, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/LIBKOS, File)
            
              FILE - A local resident opens his arms as he looks at his damaged house following Russian night shelling in the town of Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, June 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
            
              FILE - Local residents stand in line waiting for free bread from volunteers in Bakhmut, the site of the heaviest battle against the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
            
              FILE - Rescuers carry the body of a civilian at a site of an apartment building destroyed by Russian shelling in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko, File)
            
              FILE - A local resident places a vase with flowers on a broken window in his house damaged by the Russian shelling in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sunday , June 26, 2022.(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
            
              FILE - Debris hangs from a residential building heavily damaged in a Russian bombing in Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, May 28, 2022. Fighting has raged around Lysychansk and neighbouring Sievierodonetsk, the last major cities under Ukrainian control in Luhansk region. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)
            
              FILE - Victor Rosenberg, 81, looks out of a broken window in his home destroyed by the Russian rocket attack in the city centre of Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Friday, July 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
            
              FILE - A local resident walks along a street in Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/LIBKOS, File)
            
              FILE - A woman passes by an apartment building damaged following by Russian shelling in Bakhmut, the site of the heaviest battles with the Russian troops, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko, File)
            
              FILE - Ukrainian soldiers ride in a Humvee in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Libkos, File)
            FILE - Ukrainian soldiers fire a Pion artillery system at Russian positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/LIBKOS, File)
War’s longest battle exacts high price in ‘heart of Ukraine’