The Ukrainian city of Bakhmut sits right on the eastern frontline of the war, and has been the site of a months-long battle. Over recent weeks, it appears Russian troops have been gaining ground around the city, in a renewed attempt to clinch a sorely-needed victory ahead of the war’s one-year anniversary.
The fight for Bakhmut has been ongoing since June, and has proven to be one of the war’s bloodiest. Ukraine has done its best to avoid pitched battle with Russia, favouring cunning manoeuvres and Western-supplied long-range weapons.
Bakhmut is one of the few sites where direct combat has been inescapable. Lt. Gen. Frederick B. Hodges, the former US commanding general in Europe, described Bakhmut as “a place like Verdun in the First World War, where each side is trying to bleed out the other.”
And Russia has certainly been pushing their numbers advantage in the battle. As Ukraine’s military spokesperson for the eastern command, Serhiy Cherevaty said, “the Russians next to Bakhmut are trying to rely more on manpower than on armoured vehicles.”
Ukrainian soldiers have nicknamed this approach ‘human wave assaults’; essentially a brutal disregard for high casualty rates by the Kremlin, in favour of overwhelming troops. The New York Times reports that US and European officials have confirmed Moscow has pumped streams of inexperienced recruits into the battle for Bakhmut.
Alongside underprepared newbies, Russian troops in Bakhmut have also been comprised of former convicts. The Wagner group – Putin’s favourite mercenaries – have recruited Russian prisoners to the battle, promising them freedom after six months of fighting.
Wagner claimed they had seized the nearby settlement of Krasna Gora, on the northern edge of Bakhmut – a claim corroborated by the Russian Ministry of Defence on Monday. Cherevaty denies this is true, but the consensus seems to be that Krasna Gora has indeed fallen.
Still, the Ukrainian decision to apparently blow up a nearby bridge on Monday suggests to some that Kyiv might give the order to cut losses and retreat.
Bakhmut does not hold much strategic value, but it’s symbolically significant, being the subject of such a drawn-out struggle. Zelenskiy has previously called it ‘Fortress Bakhmut’, and asserted Ukraine will never give it up.
However, the intel seems to suggest Kyiv’s international advisers are urging Zelenskiy to leave Bakhmut and focus on bigger issues.
After a slow-down during the winter months, Moscow is preparing for a renewed offensive in the east, racing against time before Ukraine receives the next lot of Western military equipment. Among the promised inventory are around 80 German-made Leo tanks, pledged by European allies and expected to arrive by the end of March.
Regardless of who will prevail in Bakhmut, there isn’t much left of the city to claim. About 7,000 citizens remain in the city, compared to the pre-war population of 100,000, and the bombing and fighting has taken a heavy toll.
As Private Oleksiy Kondakov, a Ukrainian soldier rotated out of the city last month commented, “it looks like apocalypse.”
Cover photo: “Battle of Bakhmut 2” by Viktor Borinets is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
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