Surrounded on three sides, the situation in Bakhmut is becoming increasingly precarious for all Ukrainians. The government is now asking all civilians to flee.
The situation in Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, is dramatic. After months of offensive, the city is under the control of the Russian army and mainly the mercenaries of the Wagner group.
After several costly advances into the surrounding area, they managed to surround Bakhmut from three sides. The most important supply routes to the Ukrainian stronghold are already within sight and range of Russian guns.
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In view of the intense fighting, the Ukrainian government has also urged the last remaining civilians to flee.
“If you are sane, law-abiding and patriotic citizens, you should leave the city immediately,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchukin told what are believed to be just a few thousand remaining on Friday.
According to Wereschuk, there are still around 6,000 civilians in the city. It is mainly the elderly who continue to resist in Bachmut. Some sympathize with Russia, others do not want to leave their only possession or birthplace.
battlefield a “meat grinder”
The Russian army and Wagner militia mercenaries have been fighting the Ukrainian defenders of the almost completely destroyed city for months, suffering heavy losses. The city of more than 70,000 people in Donetsk Oblast is under constant Russian fire. But so far they have struggled with defenders.
In particular, the number of victims among the “volunteers” recruited from prisons by Wagner’s mercenary group would have reached horrific proportions. Trench warfare in a landscape completely scarred by bomb craters reminded many military experts of the Battle of Verdun in World War I. There was also talk of a “meat grinder” because of the bloody fights.
Read more: Wagner’s Army sends prisoners to their death in cold blood
Russian goal probably defeated
For weeks there had been speculation that an orderly withdrawal of the Ukrainians from Bakhmut might be imminent. But the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assumes that the Ukrainian army will do everything it can to hold the city for as long as possible.
In any case, the defenders would like at least a week to thwart the Russians’ annual goal of completely capturing the site by the war’s first anniversary on February 24, 2022.
“Monstrous Military Bureaucracy”
However, it is becoming more and more difficult for the Kremlin troops to achieve this goal, since, according to the head of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, 300-500 new Ukrainian fighters are approaching from all directions every day – ” artillery fire is also becoming more intense every day”, the mercenary leader recently wrote in Telegram.
At the same time, Prigozhin sharply criticizes the regular Russian army. “I think we would have taken Bachmut if it weren’t for this monstrous military bureaucracy and if there weren’t obstacles thrown in our way every day,” thundered the mercenary chief in a video posted on Telegram. Therefore, an achievement can succeed as early as “March or April”.
Read more here: Wagner chief complains of military defeat in the battle for Bachmut
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Browsing account rcp time 02/18/2023, 06:42 | Act: 02/18/2023, 06:42