Ukrainians defiant as Russians claim control over Bakhmut
Published: 04:03 PM,Mar 08,2023 | EDITED : 08:03 PM,Mar 08,2023
KYIV: The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group said on Wednesday his forces had taken full control of the eastern part of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut as one of the bloodiest battles of the year-long war ground on amid the ruins.
If the claim is true, it would mean Russian forces control nearly half the city in their costly push to secure their first big victory in several months.
Ukrainian defenders remained defiant, however. Last week they appeared to be preparing for a tactical retreat from Bakhmut, but military and political leaders are now speaking of hanging on to positions and inflicting as many casualties as possible on the Russian assault force.
In Stockholm, Ukraine’s defence minister said Kyiv urgently needed huge supplies of artillery shells to mount a general counter-offensive against Russia’s army, urging EU members to support an Estonian plan for joint procurement of munitions. “We need to move forward as soon as possible,” Oleksii Reznikov told reporters before an EU defence ministers’ meeting.
The General Staff of the Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in its Wednesday morning report: “The enemy, despite significant losses... continues to storm the town of Bakhmut.”
Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said his fighters, who have been spearheading the Russian campaign to seize Bakhmut, had now captured the city’s east. “Everything east of the Bakhmutka River is completely under the control of Wagner,” Prigozhin said on Telegram.
The river bisects Bakhmut city, which sits on the edge of a swathe of the Donetsk region that is already largely under Russian occupation. The city centre is on the west side of the river.
Prigozhin has issued premature success claims before and Reuters was not able to verify his latest one. Ukrainian military statements said earlier there may be “conditions” in Bakhmut for a Ukrainian offensive.
“The main task of our troops in Bakhmut is to grind the enemy’s fighting capability, to bleed their combat potential,” Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern military command, told public television on Tuesday.
Russia, which claims to have annexed nearly 20 per cent of Ukraine’s territory, has made progress in recent weeks around Bakhmut, but its winter offensive has yielded no significant gains in assaults further north and south.
It says that taking Bakhmut would be a step towards seizing the industrial Donbas region, made up of Donetsk and Luhansk provinces. Western analysts say Bakhmut has little strategic value.
But Kyiv says the losses suffered by Russia there could determine the course of the war, with decisive battles expected when the weather is better and Ukraine receives more military aid, including heavy battle tanks.
Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said in comments on Ukrainian television that Russia’s strategy in east Ukraine remained the same — to take the remaining areas of Donetsk and Luhansk that it does not control.
“As for tactics - they understand that they are not able to make any rapid advance, so they have one tactic — they advance where they can. If they see that there is any success somewhere, they throw all the reserves into it,” he said.
“So far, in the directions of Kreminna, Svatove and Bilohorivka (all northwest of the regional capital Luhansk) they have had no strategic successes and are making no progress.”
The months of warfare in the east have been among the deadliest and most destructive since Russian war in February last year, adding Bakhmut’s name to a list of devastated cities such as Mariupol, Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.
A Ukrainian military drone showed the scale of destruction in Bakhmut, filming apartment blocks on fire and smoke billowing from residential areas. Iryna Vereshchuk, a deputy Ukrainian premier, said fewer than 4,000 civilians — out of a pre-war population of some 70,000 remained in city, which is now in ruins. — Reuters
If the claim is true, it would mean Russian forces control nearly half the city in their costly push to secure their first big victory in several months.
Ukrainian defenders remained defiant, however. Last week they appeared to be preparing for a tactical retreat from Bakhmut, but military and political leaders are now speaking of hanging on to positions and inflicting as many casualties as possible on the Russian assault force.
In Stockholm, Ukraine’s defence minister said Kyiv urgently needed huge supplies of artillery shells to mount a general counter-offensive against Russia’s army, urging EU members to support an Estonian plan for joint procurement of munitions. “We need to move forward as soon as possible,” Oleksii Reznikov told reporters before an EU defence ministers’ meeting.
The General Staff of the Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in its Wednesday morning report: “The enemy, despite significant losses... continues to storm the town of Bakhmut.”
Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said his fighters, who have been spearheading the Russian campaign to seize Bakhmut, had now captured the city’s east. “Everything east of the Bakhmutka River is completely under the control of Wagner,” Prigozhin said on Telegram.
The river bisects Bakhmut city, which sits on the edge of a swathe of the Donetsk region that is already largely under Russian occupation. The city centre is on the west side of the river.
Prigozhin has issued premature success claims before and Reuters was not able to verify his latest one. Ukrainian military statements said earlier there may be “conditions” in Bakhmut for a Ukrainian offensive.
“The main task of our troops in Bakhmut is to grind the enemy’s fighting capability, to bleed their combat potential,” Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern military command, told public television on Tuesday.
Russia, which claims to have annexed nearly 20 per cent of Ukraine’s territory, has made progress in recent weeks around Bakhmut, but its winter offensive has yielded no significant gains in assaults further north and south.
It says that taking Bakhmut would be a step towards seizing the industrial Donbas region, made up of Donetsk and Luhansk provinces. Western analysts say Bakhmut has little strategic value.
But Kyiv says the losses suffered by Russia there could determine the course of the war, with decisive battles expected when the weather is better and Ukraine receives more military aid, including heavy battle tanks.
Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said in comments on Ukrainian television that Russia’s strategy in east Ukraine remained the same — to take the remaining areas of Donetsk and Luhansk that it does not control.
“As for tactics - they understand that they are not able to make any rapid advance, so they have one tactic — they advance where they can. If they see that there is any success somewhere, they throw all the reserves into it,” he said.
“So far, in the directions of Kreminna, Svatove and Bilohorivka (all northwest of the regional capital Luhansk) they have had no strategic successes and are making no progress.”
The months of warfare in the east have been among the deadliest and most destructive since Russian war in February last year, adding Bakhmut’s name to a list of devastated cities such as Mariupol, Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.
A Ukrainian military drone showed the scale of destruction in Bakhmut, filming apartment blocks on fire and smoke billowing from residential areas. Iryna Vereshchuk, a deputy Ukrainian premier, said fewer than 4,000 civilians — out of a pre-war population of some 70,000 remained in city, which is now in ruins. — Reuters