The Ukrainian army claims to have repelled several attacks around Bakhmout while maintaining the vagueness on the situation on the spot.
With our special correspondent in Kramatorsk, Vincent Souriau
Impossible to confirm for the moment that Bakhmout is surrounded as the leader of the Wagner group was able to affirm, but the Ukrainians are in difficulty. They retreated and they took care to blow up two bridges near Bakhmout to cover their rear and slow down the advance of the Wagner group.
The soldiers do not speak, but what humanitarian sources say here is that Bakhmout will fall. According to these same sources, the Ukrainian army has been preparing for it for a long time and the withdrawal should be done in good order. Today, even the most seasoned volunteers, first-aid workers and doctors no longer venture to enter the city when there are still a great many wounded there.
A decline that will weigh on the morale of the troops
There are also civilians who refused to leave. The general feeling on the spot is that if these civilians did not want to leave the place even under a deluge of fire, it is because they may lean for the Russians and that there is no longer any reason to strive to exfiltrate them.
It is above all a symbolic setback for Ukraine because the loss of Bakhmout does not at all sign the end of the battle of Donbass. The Russians are very far from taking a major city like Kramatorsk, but this retreat, which we are being sold as a tactical retreat, will weigh on the morale of the troops since President Zelensky had described Bakhmout as a fortress.
Russian Defense Minister visits the front
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspected a “ command post on the front in eastern Ukraine in ” Donetsk-South direction “, without specifying the exact place or the date of this visit, his ministry said on Saturday, when the battle for the symbolic city of Bakhmout is raging.
The ministry released a video showing Sergei Shoigu traveling in a helicopter, then speaking – without a helmet or bulletproof vest – with a soldier in front of damaged buildings, under the guard of a soldier. In this video, we also see the minister presenting medals to Russian soldiers.
According to the ministry, Sergei Shoigu listened to a report from the commander of the “East” armed group, General-Colonel Rustam Muradov. “ The Minister paid particular attention to the organization of full support for the forces of the grouping “, said the ministry in its press release.