Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has doubled down on defending Bakhmut, despite earlier signals of a withdrawal from the eastern city nearly surrounded by Russian troops.
In a late-night video address, Zelenskyy said he met his top generals, who “unanimously” advised “not to retreat, but to reinforce.”
It is unusual for the President to quote advice from his senior commanders. His intervention comes amid reports of concerns from Western officials, analysts and some frontline Ukrainian troops about the merits of sticking with the city despite the costs. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Monday that Bakhmut’s withdrawal should not be interpreted as an “operational or strategic setback”.
Zelenskyi said he ordered General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the supreme commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, to “find the appropriate forces to help the boys in Bakhmut.”
“There is no part of Ukraine that can be said to be abandoned,” Zelenskyi added.
The battle for the city, known to Ukrainian troops as “Bakhmut Fortress,” has dragged on for nearly nine months, one of the most grueling confrontations since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The largely bombed city was attacked by Russian troops from the east, north and south.
“The Ukrainian defense of Bakhmut continues to reduce forces on both sides,” the British Ministry of Defense said on Twitter on Tuesday.
Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defense minister, said taking control of Bakhmut would allow his troops to continue an “offensive” into Ukraine’s defenses, according to Interfax. He estimates that the death toll in Ukraine rose 40 percent to 11,000 in February.
Ukraine’s General Staff said on Tuesday that 1,060 Russian soldiers had been killed on all front lines since February 24. The claims could not be independently verified.
The capture of Bakhmut, one of the last of several major cities in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region not under Russian occupation, would give Putin his first major battlefield victory since his forces invaded the nearby sister cities in early summer of last year captured Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.
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Ukraine launched two counterattacks last fall to retake areas in the north-east and the southern city of Kherson. But Russian forces still occupy Ukraine’s eastern and southern regions, which make up nearly 20 percent of its territory.
Austin’s comments about Ukraine’s withdrawal coincided with suggestions by some Western officials and pundits that Kiev should withdraw to spare its forces from its own planned counteroffensive. This push is expected following the arrival of fresh Western weapons, including modern tanks, from NATO countries this spring.
But Ukrainian officials and experts have said their continued defense of Bakhmut is undermining Russia’s military firepower. They say Russian losses in the battle far exceeded those of Ukraine. Zelenskyi national security chief Oleksiy Danilov said on Friday the death toll was “one in seven in our favor”.
“We destroy the occupier everywhere – wherever it brings results for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in his video address. “Bakhmut has relented and is delivering one of the greatest results of this war.”