- Russians attack Bakhmut ‘non-stop’
- War to dominate G20 foreign ministers meeting
- Zelenskiy says work is underway to maintain the power system
March 2 (Portal) – Ukrainian forces held their positions in the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut early Thursday and came under constant attack from Russian troops keen to claim their first major victory in more than half a year.
Russia says capturing Bakhmut would pave the way to full control of the rest of the strategic Donbass industrial region bordering Russia, a key objective of its February 24 invasion a year ago.
Ukraine says Bakhmut has limited strategic value but has nonetheless put up fierce resistance. Not everyone in Ukraine is convinced that Bakhmut’s defense can continue indefinitely.
“I believe that sooner or later we will probably have to leave Bakhmut. There’s no point in keeping it at all costs,” Ukrainian MP Serhiy Rachmanin said on NV radio late Wednesday.
“But for now, Bakhmut is being defended with multiple objectives – first, to inflict as many Russian casualties as possible and to get Russia to deploy its ammunition and resources.”
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No line of defense should collapse, Rakhmanin said.
“There are two ways to approach this – an organized retreat or a simple escape. And under no circumstances can we allow an escape to take place,” he said.
The battle for Bakhmut began about seven months ago, but in recent weeks Russian advances from three sides have left the defenders with the only way out west.
“There is a risk that our garrison in Bakhmut will be encircled,” military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said in a YouTube post, describing the situation as “critical.”
“The enemy is trying to cut the supply routes for our forces in Bakhmut and stop all movements on them,” he said. “Russian forces cannot win street battles in Bakhmut or take the city by attacking head-on. The only way to take the city is to surround it.”
Zhdanov gave a vivid description of Russian efforts to force Ukrainian troops to abandon their positions on the east bank of the Bakhmutka River.
“They apply colossal pressure, with one attack wave after another. They bring reinforcements into trucks and remove their wounded on board the same trucks. This process is constant – like an assembly line – around the clock.”
Thousands of civilians remain in the devastated city, which had a population of about 70,000 before the war.
‘WINTER IS OVER’
Ukraine’s military said late Wednesday the Russians were trying to advance “non-stop” on Bakhmut, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his forces were “keeping every sector of the front line under control.”
Russian forces are also preparing for fresh attacks in the central Zaporizhia region and on the southern front in the Kherson region, the military said. More than 40 towns and villages were shelled, including the regional center of Kherson and other towns on the west bank of the Dnipro River that were abandoned by Russia in November.
Portal was unable to immediately verify the latest Battlefield accounts.
The war took center stage on the eve of a G20 foreign ministers meeting in New Delhi, where the EU foreign policy chief said their success would be measured by what they could do to end the conflict.
Ukrainians and Russians traditionally mark March 1 as the beginning of spring, and the frozen ground has melted at the front lines, ushering in the season of sucking black mud — “bezdorizhzhia” in Ukrainian, “rasputitsa” in Russian — that has been steeped in history attacking armies was notorious for its destruction.
“The winter is over. It was very difficult and every Ukrainian felt the difficulties without exaggeration,” Zelenskyy said in a video message after a meeting devoted to energy issues.
“But we managed to supply Ukraine with energy and heat. The threat to the energy system remains. And work continues to ensure that the energy system works,” Zelenskyy said.
Russia carried out regular rocket attacks on power plants in what Ukraine described as a calculated strategy to destroy civilian morale.
CENSORSHIP
Ukraine and its Western allies describe Russia’s war as unprovoked, aimed at crushing its European-leaning neighbor, which was part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991.
Russia accuses the West of provoking its “military special operation” to eliminate security threats and prolonging the conflict by arming the Kiev government.
Russia’s top lawmaker said he was introducing changes to a war censorship law that would increase the penalty for discrediting the army from five to 15 years in prison and extend the law to the Wagner mercenary force. Continue reading
Shortly after Moscow ordered tens of thousands of soldiers into Ukraine a year ago, it introduced far-reaching censorship laws.
A Russian Defense Ministry magazine said Moscow is developing a new type of military strategy using nuclear weapons to protect against possible US aggression, the RIA news agency reported on Thursday.
The article is the latest in a series of hawkish statements by Russian politicians and commentators following the invasion of Ukraine, suggesting that Russia would be ready to use its nuclear arsenal if necessary. Continue reading
Reporting by Portal bureaus; writing by Grant McCool and Michael Perry; Edited by Simon Cameron-Moore, Robert Birsel
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