NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday, on the sidelines of talks with EU defense ministers, that he fears the city, which has been the subject of fierce fighting for months, “will fall in the coming days”. According to the Russian mercenary group Gruppe Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the eastern part of the city has been captured.
According to Stoltenberg, the fall of the city would not be a “turning point” in Russia’s offensive war, but shows “that we should not underestimate Russia and that we should continue to support Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said in Stockholm. In any case, military experts attach little or no strategic importance to Bachmut. There is no point in the city’s fall “if others hold out,” said former Australian Major General Mick Ryan of the US think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
The Washington Institute for the Study of War (ISW) had already reported on Twitter on Tuesday evening that Russian units had probably captured the eastern part of Bakhmut after a controlled Ukrainian retreat. However, the ISW doubts whether the Russian army will be able to use the capture of the city for further advances.
According to independent military observers, there are some indications that the eastern part of Bakhmut has been abandoned. The defenders would have had a smaller beachhead there anyway. The Bakhmutka River, which flows through the small town, could now act as a natural barrier for the defenders to hinder further Russian attacks from that direction, they say.
Kiev wants „Bakhmut Fortress“ hold on
The Wagner troops operating there on the Russian side have now surrounded Bachmut from the east, north and south. Nevertheless, Kiev wants to keep the “Fortress Bakhmut”, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized again every night in his video address on Tuesday evening.
Industrial city is in ruins
Artillery fire that has been going on for months has devastated large parts of Bakhmut and forced almost all residents of the small industrial town to flee. In the battle for the city, the Russian army and the Wagner group sent poorly trained recruits to the front as “cannon fodder”. Western sources estimate that every day hundreds of soldiers are injured or killed in the “meat grinder Bakhmut”.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
