Madrid (EFE) and Ukrainians after more than a year of conflict.
Why is the control of Bakhmut decisive? Here are some keys:
Geographic situation
It is a Ukrainian city belonging to the Donetsk region. Located in the east of the country, on the banks of the Bakhmuta River, it serves as the administrative center of the Bakhmut district and the center of the Bakhmut municipality.
During the Soviet era and until 2016, when its name was changed according to the Ukrainian decommunization laws, it was called Artemivsk.
bakhmut control
Russian forces took control of Bakhmut at the end of May through the mercenaries of the Wagner group. However, they gradually withdrew and units of the Russian regular army have been in charge of maintaining control of the city.
Ukraine tries to regain ground: so far in the last few days the Ukrainian troops have advanced between 200 and 500 meters. According to the Ukrainian Border Guard, its troops “advance” and are “sweeping the Russian infantry” in the area, while “a part of the Russian army has not been able to resist the offensive and has surrendered”, according to this body published on last June 27 on his Telegram channel.
The departure of Wagner’s mercenaries and the arrival of regular troops has also implied a change in strategy, with a decrease in hand-to-hand combat and the intensification of the use of artillery and aviation against the Kiev army, as he explained. a Ukrainian military spokesman, Ruslan Muzichuk.
In addition, the replacement of the Wagnerites, whose strike force was nourished to a large extent by convicts recruited in exchange for their pardon, has led to a decrease in the number of personnel deployed in the city.
How did the Russians come to gain control of Bakhmut? As early as August 2022 they were actively fighting at the Knauf Gips gypsum factory on the southeastern outskirts of Soledar, just 8 kilometers northwest of the city.
In October 2022, the pro-Russian militias of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic announced the seizure of two towns near Bakhmut. Between November and December, they claimed to have taken other villages and surrounding areas.
battle of bakhmut
On January 5, the Kiev authorities claimed that 60% of Bakhmut had been destroyed, while between January 17 and 23, Russia proclaimed control of the Sil railway station, west of Soledar, which Moscow took for granted. 100% on the 12th, and assured that it was already advancing on the outskirts of the city.
Control of Solear and nearby Bakhmut would open the way for the Russians to Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the main Ukrainian strongholds in Donbas.
On January 19, the Wagner group, which had been trying to assault Bakhmut since mid-2022, claimed to have conquered Klishchiivka, on the outskirts of the city.
Kiev ordered the evacuation of civilians on February 17 before the final battle for Bakhmut due to the bloody fighting taking place and given that control of the area would allow either side to have a safe corridor to transport weapons and soldiers.
On March 7, Russia reported that it controlled 40% of the territory. It was on May 20 of this year when Wagner’s boss announced the complete capture of the city.
Importance
For Ukraine, keeping Bakhmut was of “extreme importance and key” for the stability of the defense of the entire front, according to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhnyi.
Both Kiev and Moscow agree in considering this enclave as an important strategic and symbolic point that must be controlled, despite the fact that Bakhmut is practically destroyed by bombing and only a few thousand inhabitants remain out of the 70,000 it once had.
Ukraine insisted on numerous occasions that keeping Bakhmut was key “from a strategic point of view to deter the enemy.”
Balance of human losses
The chief of the Wagner mercenaries, Yevgueni Prigozhin, has acknowledged that in the fighting for Bakhmut alone he lost some 15,000-16,000 men. The leader of the mercenaries estimated at 50,000-70,000 the dead in that same battle on the Ukrainian side.
However, US estimates put Russian losses in the bloody battle at nearly 100,000.