Kiev/Moscow (EFE)
“Ukrainian forces appear to be setting the conditions for a controlled withdrawal of parts of Bakhmut,” the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on Saturday.
The analytical center recalls that Russian forces have been fighting to capture Bakhmut, which had about 70,000 inhabitants before the conflict, since May 2022 and have suffered “devastating” casualties in the process.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Aleksander Rodnyanskyi acknowledged this week that kyiv could choose to cede positions in Bakhmut in dire need.
Rodnyanskyi also noted that Ukraine has fortified an area to the west of Bakhmut in such a way that even if his troops start to withdraw, Russian forces would not be able to quickly take the entire city.
At the same time, the ISW stresses that if the Ukrainian military command finds it necessary to withdraw from the city, a limited and controlled withdrawal from the particularly difficult sectors of eastern Bakhmut is likely to take place.
The pressure on Bakhmut increases
The increase in Russian pressure on Bakhmut is also highlighted today by the daily report of British intelligence.
The United Kingdom Ministry of Defense also reports that intense fighting continues in and around the city.
“Russian regular forces and the Wagner mercenary group have advanced towards the northern outskirts of the city,” the report states.
kyiv, he adds, is not giving up and reinforces the area with elite units.
At the same time, two key bridges have been destroyed in the last 36 hours, one of which links the city to the last of the main supply routes to Chasiv Yar.
“Ukrainian-controlled supply routes out of the city are increasingly limited,” concludes London.
Russian military experts, for their part, indicate that after the capture of Bakhmut the Russian army will be able to advance towards the Slaviansk and Kramatorsk bastions.
Thus, the analyst Alekséi Borzenko stated that “Artiomovsk (Russian name for Bakhmut) is already surrounded and the enemy only has two options, surrender or try to get out somehow.”
“In Slaviansk and Kramatorsk we will have it easier, there are not as many fortifications there as in Bakhmut,” the expert told Govorit Moskva radio station.
Ukraine does not give up the strategic city of Bakhmut
The secretary of the Ukrainian Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, stated the day before that the situation in Bakhmut is “difficult” but “under control”.
Meanwhile, the commander of the Ukrainian Army’s Special Operations forces, Viktor Jorenko, personally went to the besieged town to supervise the work of his units, the Special Operations Command (OSS) reported today.
“Our soldiers are constantly working in extremely harsh conditions and doing everything possible to ensure that the number of enemy forces is reduced every day,” Jorenko said during the visit, the timing of which was not specified in the OSS statement. exact.
The OSS units defending Bakhmut and involved in combat in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions are “clearly” fulfilling their tasks, Jorenko said.
The morning report of the Ukrainian Army stressed meanwhile that the enemy is concentrating its energies on offensive operations in the Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Shakhtar areas.
“During the last day, the Ukrainian defenders repelled more than 150 enemy attacks against these areas,” said the statement, which admitted that “the Russians do not stop trying to surround the city of Bakhmut.”
Also the Ukrainian media, citing soldiers from the Bakhmut front, assured that now there is “no withdrawal” and the fighting continues.
Russia warns Germany
Meanwhile, Russia on Saturday criticized German plans to build a tank production factory in Ukraine and threatened to destroy it with Kalibr cruise missiles.
“That event (the construction of the plant) will be celebrated with Kalibr fireworks and other pyrotechnics,” former President Dmitry Medvedev wrote on Telegram.
At the same time, he considered that for the moment it is “a primitive trolling of the kyiv regime” and not real news.
The current vice president of the Russian Security Council made these statements after it became known that the German arms company Rheinmetall is negotiating the construction of a tank factory in Ukraine capable of producing about 400 “Panther” type tanks each year.