Military analysts argue that Bakhmut has little strategic value. It was not a garrison town or a transport hub or a major population center. Before the invasion, about 70,000 people lived there. The city is best known for its salt and gypsum mines as well as its huge wineries. It is of no particular geographical importance. As one Western official put it, Bakhmut was “a small tactical event on a 1,200-kilometer front line”.
