KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian&nbsp;units have&nbsp;ousted&nbsp;Russian&nbsp;forces&nbsp;from&nbsp;some&nbsp;positions&nbsp;in&nbsp;Bakhmut&nbsp;amid fierce battles, a top&nbsp;Ukrainian&nbsp;general&nbsp;said on Monday, as the White House believes that more than 20,000&nbsp;Russian&nbsp;fighters have been killed in&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;since December.
"The situation (in&nbsp;Bakhmut) is quite difficult," Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the&nbsp;Ukrainian&nbsp;commander of ground&nbsp;forces, said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
"At the same time, in certain parts of the city, the enemy was counterattacked by our units and left&nbsp;some&nbsp;positions" in recent days, he said.
The 10-month-long battle for the eastern&nbsp;Ukrainian&nbsp;city has taken on a symbolic importance for both sides. It has become the fulcrum of a war that has seen little shift in front lines since late 2022, leaving both sides looking for a breakthrough.
On Monday, Russia unleashed a fresh volley of missiles on&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;overnight that killed two people in the east, set off huge blazes and damaged dozens of homes and other buildings.
The White House said on Monday that Russia has exhausted its military stockpiles and its armed&nbsp;forces&nbsp;with&nbsp;some&nbsp;100,000&nbsp;Russian&nbsp;troops killed or wounded in&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;in the past five months. Of the 20,000 killed, half have been&nbsp;from&nbsp;the Wagner Group.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Wagner, said on Telegram on Monday that his fighters needed&nbsp;some&nbsp;300 tonnes of artillery shells a day for the assault on&nbsp;Bakhmut, but were receiving only a third of that amount.
"Three hundred tonnes a day is 10 cargo containers - not a lot at all," said Prigozhin, who has often clashed with Russia's defence establishment over its conduct of the war in&nbsp;Ukraine.
In a separate posting on Monday evening, Prigozhin said his troops had advanced&nbsp;some&nbsp;120 metres (400 feet) into&nbsp;Bakhmut&nbsp;at the loss of 86 of his fighters.
Syrskyi said that new&nbsp;Russian&nbsp;units are being "constantly thrown into battle for&nbsp;Bakhmut" despite taking heavy losses, Syrskyi said, adding: "But the enemy is unable to take control of the city."
Russian&nbsp;forces&nbsp;have steadily made incremental gains in&nbsp;Bakhmut, but&nbsp;Ukraine&nbsp;said on Sunday that it was still possible to supply the&nbsp;defenders&nbsp;with food, ammunition and medicine.
Kyiv is widely expected soon to launch a counter-offensive to retake swathes of territory in the east and south that were occupied by&nbsp;Russian&nbsp;forces&nbsp;following the invasion 15 months ago.
(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk; Olekshandr Kozhukhar, Ron Popeski and Lidia Kelly; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Gareth Jones, Cynthia Osterman and Michael Perry)

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Ukrainian defenders oust Russian forces from some positions in Bakhmut -Ukraine general