While the armed fighting drags on in Bakhmout (Ukraine), in the east of the country, the number one of the Ukrainian army persists: the Ukrainian forces do not abandon the locality.
More than ten months after the start of the Battle of Bakhmout, no side is abandoning its positions. Since August 1, 2022, Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have been clashing around this city, once populated by 70,000 inhabitants, and today almost reduced to nothing.
If the Russian forces, in particular the paramilitary group Wagner, have recently reported progress on the ground (unverifiable information from independent sources, according to the explanations of the Reuters agency), the Ukrainian army has retaliated in this war of communication.
“Inflict maximum casualties on the enemy”
Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, head of the Ukrainian land forces, assured on Tuesday that the defensive lines of Bakhmout would be reinforced in order to hold the city against Russian offensives.
“We will continue, despite all predictions and advice, to hold Bakhmut, destroy Wagner and other of the most combat-capable units of the Russian army,” General Oleksandr Syrskyi said.
“Together with the commanders, we have taken a number of necessary decisions aimed at ensuring an effective defense and inflicting maximum losses on the enemy,” the soldier added, according to footage filmed during the visit and made public.
Earlier in the week, Oleksandr Syrskyi had already claimed that his men had, in the past few hours, succeeded in dislodging Russian troops located in several positions within the city of Bakhmout.
Towards a Ukrainian counter-offensive?
The battle of Bakhmout is considered one of the most devastating for the soldiers of the Russian and Ukrainian armies. Mainly controlled by the forces of Vladimir Putin, the city is deserted by its inhabitants and no longer represents a major strategic point for the two armies.
On Monday, the White House spokesman for national security assured the press that about 20,000 Russian soldiers, mostly belonging to the paramilitary group Wagner, had died in the past five months in Bakhmout.
As for the Ukrainian forces, the army says it is ready to launch a counter-offensive as soon as possible to recover the territories occupied by Russia. This response could come as the White House assured Monday that Russia had exhausted its stockpiles of weapons and its personnel, estimating at some 100,000 the number of Russian fighters killed or injured in the past five months.
Sunday, April 30, the possibility of a Ukrainian counter-offensive seemed to worry the leader of the Wagner group. In conflict with the Russian military hierarchy, Yevgeny Prigojine conceded that a Ukrainian counter-offensive could end in “tragedy” for Russia, while his group has only “10-15% of the ammunition” it needs .
