In an interview with the news agency AP, the President of Ukraine warns that Russia’s victory in Bahmut could affect the international support Ukraine receives.
Russia and Ukraine have been fighting fiercely for months over the control of Bahmut, located in eastern Ukraine. The difficulty of the situation is indicated, among other things, by the fact that Ukraine has started the forced transfer of civilians from the Bahmut region.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi stressed the importance of keeping Bahmut in an interview with AP. He says that if Russia wins, it can start gathering international support for the solution it wants in Ukraine.
– Vladimir Putin would sell this victory to the West, his own people, China and Iran, Zelenskyi said.
The president estimates that in that case he might be pressured from many sides into compromises.
The interview was conducted on a train where the President of Ukraine was traveling around Ukraine near the most difficult frontline positions.
Russia says it is advancing in Bahmut
Both sides of the war have suffered great losses in the battles for control of the city.
Russia considers the capture of Bahmut to be central to strengthening its position in the wider Donbass region. Russian military leader Denis Pushilin told the news agency Reuters on Tuesday that Russia is advancing in Bahmut and is about to take control of the central AZOM factory site. The information could not be confirmed from independent sources.
Bahmut had 70,000 inhabitants before the war of aggression began. Now the city is practically completely destroyed.
Zelenskyi invited Xi Jinping to Ukraine
Zelenskyi also invited the President of China Xi Jinping to Ukraine. China is considered a significant influence, as it politically supports the other side of the war, Russia.
– I want to talk to him. We had contact before the start of the full-scale war, but for more than a year there has been no contact, the Ukrainian president said.
Zelenskyi rejected estimates that Bahmut, which causes heavy losses, is not strategically very important from the point of view of the war and therefore it is not worth wasting so many resources on it.
– We cannot lose steps, because war is a pie with pieces of victory. Small victories, small steps, Zelenskyi said.