The situation in Bakhmut, where there are now street fights, has been hellish for days. It is the final battle for Donbass: according to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksij Reznikov, in Bakhmut “Russian losses amount to 500 killed and wounded a day”. Russian soldiers are just “cannon fodder” in Moscow’s “meat grinder tactics”, Reznikov told Bild am Sonntag. A key role on the Russian side is played by the mercenaries of the Wagner group and the founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, stated in a video that “if Wagner’s private mercenary force withdraws from Bakhmut, the whole front will crumble … to the Russian borders and maybe beyond”.
And there, in the city devastated by the fighting, the brutal melee has been going on for days. As reported by the newspaper Republic ammunition is scarce and British intelligence explains how the old Mpl-50 Moscow infantry ordinance tool is being used more and more to compensate for the lack of bullets.
According to the pro-Russian authorities in Donetsk, “about 10,000 Ukrainian troops” remain in Bakhmut and the city is undergoing an “operational siege”. The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, held a meeting with the General Staff of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, during which he questioned the Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny and the Commander of the Strategic Operational Group Khortytsia, Oleksandr Syrskyi, about other actions in Bakhmut’s direction. “They spoke out in favor of continuing the defensive operation and further strengthening our positions in Bakhmut,” writes the Kiev presidency, explaining that at the meeting the commanders of the strategic-operational groups of troops reported the situation in the main directions of the front.
The importance of the ongoing battle in Bakhmut “is more symbolic than strategic and operational”. These are the words of US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, reported by Ukrainska Pravda. Austin spoke during a visit to Jordan, specifying that, in any case, the possible fall of Bakhmut “would not necessarily mean that the Russians changed the course of the conflict”.
Looking at the negotiating hypothesis, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz believes that any possible negotiation to end the war in Ukraine can only begin when Russian President Vladimir Putin understands that he will not win.
Source: IL Tempo
John Cameron is a journalist at The Nation View specializing in world news and current events, particularly in international politics and diplomacy. With expertise in international relations, he covers a range of topics including conflicts, politics and economic trends.
