Russian forces moved closer to Bakhmut on Sunday, claiming to have captured a village on the outskirts of a strategic city in eastern Ukraine as they attacked nearby settlements with tank shells, mortars and artillery fire. bullet.
The private military company Wagner, whose forces helped lead Russia’s brutal and months-long campaign to capture Bakhmut, says its “attack units” have captured the village of Krasna Gora, near the edge north of the city. Statement made by press service belong to Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, founder of the groupand includes a purported video showing Wagner warriors at the village entrance.
“This is what we have taken,” said one fighter as an explosion rang out. They will continue to the next village, he added. There was no immediate comment from the Russian Defense Ministry and neither the statement nor the footage could be independently verified.
Bakhmut has emerged as a focal point of the war and an important reward for Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, who has poured troops into the battle for a city seen as key to his claimed goal. he is occupying the entire area of eastern Ukraine called Donbas.
Ukraine’s General Staff said on Sunday that Russian forces, sometimes supported by air strikes, shelled Krasna Gora and two dozen other settlements near Bakhmut in the past day, continuing to describe The offensive pattern intensified as Moscow began to increase in strength. a new attack in the east. It said Ukrainian forces had repelled Russian attacks on Bakhmut, although Ukrainian soldiers have in recent weeks acknowledged that their capture of the city is slipping.
Capturing Bakhmut would be Russia’s first major victory on the battlefield in months after a string of defeats in the fall. However, military analysts say it is unclear whether capturing the city will pave the way for further Russian advances in eastern Ukraine. Both Russian and Ukrainian forces suffered heavy losses during the operation, one of the deadliest wars in a war that lasted almost a year.
Bakhmut, which had a population of about 70,000 before the war but is now largely ruined, became a national symbol of resistance Ukraine. After months of devastating bombardment, Russian forces, including regulars and Wagner mercenaries, now appear to have siege the city on three sides. It remains unclear whether Ukraine will seek to send in more reinforcements to continue defending the city or decide to withdraw tactically.
Moscow threw many inexperienced rookies and former prisoner employed by Wagner participating in the battle, according to American and European officials, who this month assessed that the total number of Russian soldiers killed or wounded in nearly 12 months of fighting had reached nearly 200,000.
British defense intelligence agency speak on Sunday that over the past two weeks, “Russia may have suffered its highest casualty rate since the first week of the invasion of Ukraine.” The assessment is based on Ukraine’s estimate of more than 800 Russian soldiers killed or wounded daily over the past week, the agency said, numbers that it could not verify but said were “likely to be accurate.” corpse”.
“The increase in Russian casualties can be attributed to a range of factors including a lack of trained personnel, coordination and resources across the front,” the agency said. This was evident, it added, in the fighting in Bakhmut and around Vuhledara town 60 miles south, where Russia has deployed thousands of troops in an effort to protect a vital supply line from Ukrainian artillery attacks.
Russia’s advance in eastern Ukraine stalled last summer as Ukrainian forces, backed by new, longer-range weapons from Western allies, dug around strategic cities and strengthen their defenses. But in recent weeks, the Moscow military — shelling at its highest rate in months and deploying waves of troops at various points on the 140-mile front — has begun to take the initiative in the eastsaid analysts, and gradually tightened the encirclement around Bakhmut.
Last month, Russia arrested soledara salt mining town north of Bakhmut, and within range of an important Ukrainian supply route to the south, effectively cutting it off.
However, Ukrainian military officials and analysts say that it is far from clear that Russia can maintain a massive attack. Rivalry between Wagner warriors and regulars, questions about whether it had enough ammunition, and chaotic which impeded their war effort in the first place, all of which could jeopardize the Russian push.
At the same time, analysts say that Ukraine’s ability to counter Russia’s numerical advantage will depend in part on how long Western nations can deliver the promised new military aid – tanks, armored vehicles and long-range weapons – for the front. About 80 German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks committed by the European allies will arrive in Ukraine by the end of March at the earliest.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III held a phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksii Reznikov, on Saturday and discussed the need for advanced weapons to be “delivered to the battlefield as far as possible” the faster the better”, according to Pentagon summary of the call.
As fighting broke out in the east, Russian attacks continued elsewhere in Ukraine on Sunday. To the south, Russian troops shelled the town controlled by Ukraine. Nikopol, next to a large nuclear plant occupied by Moscow, the regional governor said. One woman was killed and another injured in the strike, which damaged a water facility, a college and other buildings, the official said.
Russian forces also shelled the regional administration building in the center of the city Kherson, the devastated southern city that Ukraine took back last fall, according to local authorities. No injuries were reported there.
Ivan Nechepurenko contribution report.
