Soldiers load guns before attacking Russian troops in Bakhmut, Ukraine
By Olena Harmash
KIEV (Portal) Ukrainian troops will continue to defend the eastern city of Bakhmut and reinforcements are being sent, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, seemingly prolonging the bloodiest battle of the war in a bid to stem the onslaught by Ukrainian forces.
Moscow has sent thousands of troops on an assault wave in recent weeks to try to capture Bakhmut and claim its first battlefield victory in more than half a year. Ukrainian forces were digging trenches further west and appeared to be preparing to retreat in recent days.
But Zelenskyy’s comments in an evening speech indicated that Kiev had decided not only to stay and fight but also to strengthen the city, apparently convinced that Russia’s losses from attempting an invasion are still far greater than those of the Defender.
“The command unanimously supported” the decision not to withdraw, Zelenskyy said. “There were no other positions. I have instructed the CommanderinChief to find the right forces to assist our men in Bakhmut.”
Russia, which launched a fullscale invasion of Ukraine a year ago and claims to have annexed almost a fifth of its territory, says taking Bakhmut is a step toward seizing the industrial Donbass region, one of the main goals of the war.
“The liberation of Artemovsk continues,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a televised address, using the Sovietera name of Bakhmut, readopted by the Russian invaders.
“The city is an important center of Ukrainian troops defending Donbass. Their mastery will allow new offensive actions to be launched deep into Ukraine’s defenses.”
Western strategists say the destroyed city is of limited value, and Russia’s attack may be motivated by the need to give President Vladimir Putin a symbolic victory for a winter offensive involving hundreds of thousands of recruited reservists and mercenaries from the private Wagner group.
Ukraine’s military command on Tuesday reported a record 1,600 Russians killed in the past 24 hours. These numbers cannot be confirmed, and the sites do not regularly publish numbers of their own victims. But previous Ukrainian reports of Russian casualties matched large failed Russian attacks.
Urban combat generally favors the defenders. Some Ukrainian officials in recent days have spoken of a ratio of up to seven Russians killed in Bakhmut to every Ukrainian loss.
“The opportunity to damage elements of the Wagner Group along with other elite units, if involved, in a defensive urban warfare scenario where the attrition gradient heavily favors Ukraine is attractive,” the Institute for the Study of War wrote, reasoning not withdraw the obvious decision of Ukraine for the time being.
The institute said while the attack on Bakhmut was previously led by Wagner units recruited mostly from prisoners, Russia is now sending highergrade troops there, giving Ukraine more reason to fight to defeat them.
Portal journalists were not in Bakhmut for a week and could not independently verify the situation there.
The Battle of Bakhmut revealed a rift between Russia’s regular military and Wagner, whose chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has released videos in recent days accusing the Defense Ministry of withholding ammunition for his men.
The Russian Defense Ministry denies having ammunition for Wagner but has not responded to Prigozhin’s recent allegations. The Kremlin is silent on the dispute.
(From Portal)