Russian mercenary chief’s rift with officials deepens
Bakhmut
The status of the besieged city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine is unclear after conflicting reports at the weekend over how much of the city was controlled by Russian forces, and whether Ukrainian forces were starting to withdraw from parts of the city.
A Ukrainian commander of troops in Bakhmut said on Telegram Sunday that there were “no decisions or orders regarding retreat” and that “the defense is holding” in the city but also characterized the situation in Bakhmut and its outskirts as “very much like hell.”
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War think tank said Sunday that Ukrainian forces appear to be conducting a “limited tactical withdrawal” in Bakhmut, however, although they noted that “it is still too early to assess Ukrainian intentions concerning a complete withdrawal from the city.”
The ISW noted that “Ukrainian forces are unlikely to withdraw from Bakhmut all at once and may pursue a gradual fighting withdrawal to exhaust Russian forces through continued urban warfare.”
The head of Ukraine’s armed forces told President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the defense of Bakhmut, a besieged city in Donetsk that Russia claims to have effectively surrounded, should continue.
Zelenskyy held a meeting with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny and Oleksandr Syrsky, the commander of forces in Bakhmut, specifically focused on the situation and “they spoke in favor of continuing the defensive operation and further strengthening our positions in Bakhmut,” the president’s office said in a statement Monday.
Russia has been slowly advancing on, and surrounding, Bakhmut for weeks although fighting near and around the city has been going on for around seven months with both sides determined to capture and defend the industrial city, respectively.
Russia is seen to want to capture Bakhmut, which has been severely destroyed in the fighting, as a way to cut Ukrainian supply lines in the east, and sees it as a launchpad on to bigger cities like Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
Ukrainian analysts have downplayed the significance of Bakhmut, saying that even if the city falls into Russian hands the course of the war won’t be changed. Both sides have committed so much manpower to the fight there, however, that neither side wants to capitulate.
Defense analysts at the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War believe Ukraine is beginning to conduct some kind of “limited tactical withdrawal” in Bakhmut, however, and is looking to inflict as many losses on Russian forces as it can during the process
