The small industrial city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine was hitRussiaAfter more than seven months of indiscriminate bombing by the army, Deputy Mayor Machenko said that there are only thousands of civilians left in the area. They live in underground shelters without drinking water, gas or electricity.
Oleksandr Marchenko told BBC News: “The city is almost destroyed. There is not a single building that has not been affected by this war.”
●Bakhmut has been devastated by the flames of war. Why is Russia and Ukraine still desperately attacking it?
Military analysts pointed out that Bahemt has little strategic value, neither a military town, nor a transportation hub or a major population center.full scale invasion in russiaUkraineCurrently, only about 70,000 people live there.
The city is famous for its salt mines, gypsum mines and huge wineries. Bahemut is of no particular geographical importance. As one Western official put it, the battle of Bahemut was “a small tactical event on a 1,200-kilometer front”.
But Russia has poured military resources into taking the city. Western officials estimate that between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded in Bakhmut and the surrounding area.
The Kremlin needs symbolic victories. It has been a long time since the Russian army captured Udonian cities such as Severodonetsk and Lysychansk last summer. So Russia needs to be successful in convincing pro-Kremlin propagandists at home.
Serhii Kuzan, chairman of the Ukrainian Security and Co-operation Centre, told the BBC: “They are fighting for a political mission, not a purely military mission. The Russians will continue to sacrifice tens of thousands of lives to achieve their political goals.”
Russian commanders also had military reasons for taking Bakhmut, hoping that it would serve as a springboard for Russian forces to take further territory. The MoD noted in December that the capture of Bakhmut “could allow Russia to threaten the larger metropolitan areas of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk”.
Bakhmut became the site of wrestling between Wagner and the Russian Defense Minister
When Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian mercenary organization Wagner Group, marched against Bakhmut, he bet his reputation and that of his personal army.
Prigozin wanted to show everyone that his fighters fought better than the regular Russian army. He recruited thousands of prisoners and sent them attacking Ukrainian defensive positions in batches, many of them dying as cannon fodder.
Had Prigozin not succeeded in capturing Bakhmut, his political influence in Moscow would have been weakened.
Prigozin had previously clashed with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, first criticizing Shoigu’s tactics and now complaining about not getting enough ammunition. Kujan said the two were engaged in a political struggle for influence in the Kremlin “and the place of the struggle was Bakhmut and the surrounding area”.
●Why did Uzbekistan still hold on tenaciously after losing thousands of soldiers?
Ukraine’s main strategic purpose is to use this battle to weaken the Russian military. One Western official put it bluntly: “Because of Russian tactics, Bakhmut gave Ukraine a unique opportunity to kill many Russians.”
NATO sources estimate that for every Ukrainian death at Bakhmut, five Russians were killed. Oleksiy Danilov, secretary-general of the Ukrainian National Security Council, revealed that the ratio of Ukrainian and Russian soldiers lost in the local area is actually higher, 1 to 7.
Like Russia, Ukraine has given Bakhmut political significance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used Bakhmut as a symbol of defense against Russian forces.
During a visit to Washington in December, Zelensky called Bakhmut “a bastion of our morale” and presented a Ukrainian flag obtained from Bakhmut to the U.S. Congress. “The battle of Bahemut will change the course of our war for independence and freedom,” he said.
●How will the situation change if Bahemut falls?
Russia will claim victory, a rare piece of morale-boosting good news. Ukraine would suffer a political and symbolic defeat, with Ukrainians no longer able to chant “Hold Bakhmut!” on social media. Only a few thought it would have major military implications.
“The fall of Bahemut does not necessarily mean that the Russians have changed the dynamics of the battle,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
Former Australian general Ryan (Mick Ryan), now a strategist, believes that the Russian army cannot make rapid progress.
He said: “The Ukrainians … will retreat to the defense zone of the Kramotosk region. The city is higher and more defensible than Bakhmut. For Russia, any advance into the Kramotosk region could be as bloody as the Battle of Bahemut.”
Perhaps the most important aspect of the Battle of Bakhmut lies in how many people will be lost on both sides of Russia and Ukraine, and the pairRusso-Ukrainian WarWhat is the meaning of the next stage. Did the Russian side suffer so many casualties that they weakened their ability to launch further offensives? Or would the Ukrainian side lose so many soldiers that the army would be less able to launch a counteroffensive in late spring?