The Battle of Bakhmut is considered the longest and bloodiest of the Ukraine War, with heavy casualties on both sides. How has the situation in the city in the east of the country developed – and why is Bachmut so important?
What has happened so far?
Before the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, around 70,000 people lived in Bakhmut. The fighting there began late last summer. Since then, Russian troops have been besieging the city, which is located in a Kiev-controlled part of Donetsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine’s industrial region of Donbass.
In the course of the trench warfare, which has now lasted nine months – the longest siege so far in the more than year-long Ukraine war – both sides have had to accept heavy losses. Thousands of soldiers died. The front lines, on the other hand, have shifted little.
At the beginning of January, the head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, complained about the complete capture of the small town of Soledar near Bakhmut. Around two weeks later, the Ukrainian military also confirmed that it had withdrawn from Soledar. The capture of the city is a points victory for Russia, whose troops could thus move closer to Bakhmut.
Most recently, Wagner boss Prigozhin claimed in a video that the Russian flag had been hoisted on the building of Bakhmut’s city administration and the strategically most important city in the Donetsk region had thus been conquered in the legal sense.
However, Kiev rejects the claims of the alleged conquest as false information – and the Russian Ministry of Defense has not yet confirmed any capture. The fight for Bachmut continues.
The information provided by the warring parties can hardly be verified independently. But one thing is clear: the city has now been largely destroyed. Only 3,000 of the formerly 70,000 residents are said to remain there.
How important is Bakhmut for Ukraine?
The Russian troops are besieging, the Ukrainians are holding out – this has been the case for nine months now, which is why Bakhmut almost automatically has a high symbolic importance in the Ukraine war. The Ukrainian counter-offensive also stalled in the fall, with the last major territorial success being the liberation of the western part of the region and the city of Kherson itself in November.
The city in the Donbass is strategically important because it lies on the E40 trunk road between the second largest Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and Russia’s Rostov-on-Don. Bakhmut would open the way for the Russian army to cities to the west, such as Sloviansk or Kramatorsk, an important industrial and administrative center in the Donetsk region. The complete conquest of Donetsk region planned by Russia would draw closer.
How could it go on?
So far, neither Russia nor Ukraine seem willing to give up the small town, which is largely in ruins. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly declared that he will stand firm in Bakhmut. Military analysts have been critical of this. So it might make more sense to retreat to a new line of defense. Otherwise, reservists who would be needed in counter-offensives would die, such as the Ukrainian analyst Oleh Zhdanov.
Military historian Roman Ponomarenko told media: “If we just give up Bakhmut and withdraw our troops and equipment, nothing bad can happen. If they close the ring, we will lose men and equipment.”
Ralph Thiele, a former employee in the NATO commander-in-chief’s private office, told DW in early March that he thought the Ukrainians’ chances in the battle for Bachmut were slim. They are largely surrounded and militarily inferior to the Russians at Bakhmut.
Author: Ines Eisele
