War between Ukraine and RussiaDossierIn the face of the Kremlin’s efforts to capture this Donbass city, Ukrainian forces are beefing up their defenses. Access to the city has been restricted, including for members of humanitarian organizations and journalists.
“We won’t be celebrating anytime soon.” The Ukrainian city of Bakhmout, the scene of bitter fighting for months, will not fall despite the latest Russian advances, said Yevgeny Prigoyine, head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, referring to a slaughter. “Bakhmut will not be taken tomorrow because there is strong resistance, shelling, the meat grinder is running,” he continues, referring to the high casualties on the battlefield.
Wagner, who has recruited thousands of prisoners to fight in Ukraine, has been leading the assault on Bakhmout since the summer and recently captured a number of nearby settlements to encircle the town. However, the Ukrainian resistance seems to be giving their all on the battlefield. “The opponent activates and constantly sends new reserves. Every day between 300 and 500 fighters arrive in Bakhmout from all over, the artillery fire increases every day,” said Putin’s former cook, now a warlord.
The head of the Russian occupation in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, where Bakhmout is located, Denis Pushilin, told him Ukraine had shown no signs of ceding the city, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called a “fortress”. “We fully understand that there is currently no prospect of the enemy giving up their positions without a fight,” Wagner’s boss admitted, according to the Russian media.
Bakhmout, a town of around 70,000 before the Russian offensive a year ago, has been largely destroyed by more than six months of fighting that has claimed heavy casualties on both sides. “About 5,000 people” are still in Bakhmout despite the danger, spokesman for the Ukrainian army command “East”, Serguiï Tcherevaty, reported on Tuesday. A day earlier, Ukrainian forces blew up a bridge near the eastern city, according to a local news site quoted by the Guardian.
The front line “constantly bombed”
Several Ukrainian officials also said that as the situation deteriorated, access to Bakhmout for civilians, including members of humanitarian organizations and journalists, was restricted. Only “those who really need to enter Bakhmout enter it,” says Serguiï Tcherevaty. “We are taking additional measures to evacuate everyone who remained in the city,” added the head of Ukraine’s military administration in Donetsk, Pavlo Kyrylenko. According to him, “the entire front line is constantly being bombed, both the line of contact and the cities in the rear.” He said the situation was “difficult but under control”.
While Bakhmout’s strategic importance is disputed, the city has earned a status as a symbol of the Moscow-Kiev struggle for control of the Donetsk industrial region. The Ukrainian presidency on Monday acknowledged a “complicated” situation in the village of Paraskoviïvka, about ten kilometers from the center of Bakhmout, which is facing “intense bombardments and attacks” from Russia. Denis Pushilin said on Friday that troops from Moscow now have three of the four Ukrainian supply routes to Bakhmout under their control.