 Ukraine rejected the call of U.S. to surrender Bakhmut to Russians. The U.S. administration warned the Kiev government that the armed forces of Ukraine won't be able to hold the city of Bakhmut and advised it to withdraw troops from the city. The Washington Post reported, citing leaked secret documents. One of the documents says that Washington warned Kiev about the potential encirclement by Russian troops in Bakhmut back in January. The document, marked as top secret, says the steady Russian advances since November had jeopardized Ukraine's ability to hold the city and Ukrainian forces would probably be at risk of encirclement unless they withdraw within the next month. The newspaper said that all these warnings were ignored by the Kiev government. Kiev says the intensity of the use of heavy artillery and airstrikes in Donetsk region's city of Bakhmut, a hotspot in Russia's war with Ukraine, increased. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hannah Malia said on Telegram that Russian offensives in the eastern part of the country continue stressing that Bakhmut and the town of Marinka remain at the epicenter of hostilities. Malia claimed that Russian offensives in the directions of Lyman, Avdivka and Marinka towns were unsuccessful.