Time is playing against Russian forces trying to establish control over the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. This was stated by Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Malyar.
“The competent actions of our command in the direction of Bakhmut and the courage of our fighters made these prolonged battles the most expensive for the enemy during his full-scale invasion,” she wrote in Telegram.
Mallyar argued that the time, weapons, equipment and “enormous number of casualties” Russia has inflicted on Bakhmut so far are not justified “from the point of view of military expediency,” but the persistent Russian command has raised the stakes to its own detriment.
Yesterday, the General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces acknowledged that Russian forces had made some progress in Bakhmut, but indicated that Ukrainian fighters were still holding out for months of fighting.
This week, the British Ministry of Defense described the progress of Russian forces as “negligible”, and a few days ago the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, General Mark Milley, told the American lawmakers that in the last 20-21 days, the Russian troops have not achieved any progress in and around Bakhmut.
The roughly eight-month battle for Bakhmut, which had a total population of 70,000 before the war but is now virtually in ruins, was one of the bloodiest battles of attrition during the year-long Russian invasion. Bakhmut is not a very big city, but after months of efforts to hold it, it has a serious symbolic meaning for the Ukrainian army.
Taking Bakhmut would not only give Russian fighters a rare battlefield victory after months of setbacks, but could cut off Ukraine’s supply lines and allow Kremlin forces to advance on other Ukrainian strongholds in eastern Donetsk region.
