His “Soviet champagne” was considered one of the finest in the USSR. The city of Bakhmout, in the Donbass, has built its reputation on the unique characteristics of the cellars dug in its old gypsum quarry, where temperatures and humidity do not vary. In 1950, on Stalin’s orders, the communist authorities set up a sparkling wine factory on this site. And even recently, the cellars of the Artwinery company housed around fifty million bottles.
Moscow’s priority since this summer, the city is now synonymous with nightmare. The fighting that took place there was among the deadliest of the conflict. They have redoubled in intensity in recent weeks: 50 to 100 Russian soldiers lose their lives there every day, for an equivalent number of wounded, said Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesman for the Ukrainian forces in the East.
Ukraine is careful not to give an account of its own losses on the spot, which are necessarily substantial. During a recent visit to the Donbass, its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, nevertheless reported a “very tough confrontation”, where “every meter counts”. The clashes in the area, over a few tens of kilometers of a front that moves little, recall those of Verdun, the scene of a massive offensive of several months by the German army during the First World War.
“Bakhmout turned into a battle of attrition, like that of Verdun, when the Germans relied on the superiority of their artillery to bleed the French army white, observes the former colonel of the navy troops and historian Michel Goya, author of Winners. How France won the Great War (Tallandier). It has become an issue in itself for the Russians, who do not want to lose a battle that is talked about every day, in the media around the world.”
The first bombardments began on May 17. The capture of the city then made it possible to consider those of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, to complete the Russian seizure of the Donbass. But the loss, in mid-September, of Izioum and Lyman undermined this plan, while reducing the military value of Bakhmout. However, Moscow is stubborn, whatever the cost. “It would be a tactical gain for the Russian forces, while representing a strategic outlay of ammunition, manpower and equipment, likely to undermine their current attempts at defense and reconstitution,” stresses on TwitterMichael Kofmandirector of studies on Russia at the American research institute CNA.
A “meat grinder”
This relentlessness in wanting to take Bakhmout is also explained by the leading role played in the battle by the Wagner group. Its seasoned paramilitaries are supplemented there by fighters recruited in prison and serving as cannon fodder in the front line. Their boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, wants to demonstrate that his mercenaries are Russia’s best asset and can succeed where the regular army fails – their last success dates back to the capture of Severodonetsk and Lyssychansk in early July. The conquest of the city would constitute for him a personal triumph, able to serve his political ambitions.
The oligarch does not hide his ambition. “Our task is not Bakhmout itself, but the destruction of the Ukrainian army and the reduction of its combat potential, said this close friend of Vladimir Putin. That is why this operation was nicknamed the meat grinder Bakhmout.” The expression, again, recalls the battle of Verdun, “butchery” where nearly 300,000 soldiers perished.
Muddy trenches, jagged landscape and broken ground: the images from the front reveal an apocalyptic setting, shaped by incessant cannonades, worthy of the First World War. “We are on the same style of confrontations, confirms Michel Goya. Against buried troops, you have to use artillery, which caused the vast majority of the wounded in Bakhmout. Armored vehicles are less important in this difficult terrain, with close combat and the threat of anti-tank weapons.”
Suffering many losses, the Russians have advanced only a few kilometers since the summer. As for the Ukrainians, they apply the same recipe as the French in Verdun to withstand the shock: rotate the workforce, so that they maintain morale. “The rotation of the Ukrainian army and the reinforcements can stabilize the situation”, notes Michael Kofman. While waiting for the outcome of this battle, Bakhmout, where a few thousand inhabitants are still holed up, is falling apart under the rain of Russian shells.