Soldiers, who fall one by one, replaced as one threads a shell into a cannon, before it explodes. According to Ukraine, Russia would send its men freely to Bakhmout. The city is currently the epicenter of the war led by Vladimir Putin, since February 24.
While the conflict has been going on for a year, the city has become a strategic symbol, prized by both sides. But, unlike kyiv, Moscow would be ready to pay a very heavy price to reassure its public opinion. We take stock, when the situation could change.
Will Bakhmout fall?
The Ukrainian army recognizes in any case to be in great difficulty. Volodymyr Zelensky admitted Tuesday evening that the situation around Bakhmout was becoming “more and more complicated” for his soldiers, who described scenes reminiscent of those of the First World War. “Russia does not count its men at all, constantly sending them to attack our positions. The intensity of the fighting is only increasing,” said the Ukrainian president.
“The situation around Bakhmout is extremely tense,” the commander of the Ukrainian land forces, Oleksandre Syrsky, had noted earlier in the day, quoted by the official press center of the army. Three of the four routes allowing the Ukrainians to supply Bakhmout have been cut off, leaving only the one leading west towards Chassiv Iar, south of which the Russians are also trying to advance, as an escape route.
Is the paramilitary group Wagner involved?
Yes, according to Ukraine. The men of this militia, a time in the shadows, and whose recourse is now relatively assumed in the Kremlin, would even be on the front line in these fights, according to the commander of the Ukrainian land forces, Oleksandre Syrsky.
Wagner’s boss, Evguéni Prigojine, has also claimed in turn in recent weeks the capture of localities around Bakhmout. Soledar fell in January, then Krasna Gora in February, and Saturday Yaguidné, located at the gates of the city.
Why Bakhmout?
Despite a strategic importance disputed by experts, Bakhmout has become a symbol of the struggle for control of the industrial region of Donbass. Volodymyr Zelensky, who went there in December, had sworn to defend this fortress city “as long as possible”.
“If they win the city, the Russians are not going to rush to Dnipro. Above all, the Russians want to regain the initiative in the war and force the Ukrainians to suffer, to remain in a defensive position. The Russians are trying to make maximum damage, considering that they can make up for their own losses with mobilization”, recently explained in our columns General Jérôme Pellistrandi, editor-in-chief of the National Defense Review.
Are there any civilians left?
Bakhmout, which had a population of 70,000 before the war, was largely destroyed by the fighting which caused heavy casualties on both sides. Some 4,000 civilians remain there despite the danger, taking refuge in basements and shelters, according to Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary General.
Very few humanitarian organizations and volunteers are (currently) in the area, and most of the town’s inhabitants therefore depend mainly on supplies from previous humanitarian distributions.