RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Wagner chief reports progress in key Donbass city
Russian forces are in full control of the eastern part of the strategic Donbass city of Artyomovsk, or Bakhmut as it’s called by Ukraine, head of the Wagner Group private military company Evgeny Prigozhin has said.
“The units of the Wagner Group PMC have taken over the entire eastern part of Artyomovsk. Everything east of the Bakhmutka River is completely under the control of the Wagner Group,” Prigozhin announced in an audio message published by his press service on Wednesday.
The Wagner Group chief also posted a video of himself posing in front of the famous T-34 tank monument in the eastern part of Artyomovsk.
The Bakhmutka River cuts the city roughly in half, running from north to south.
Prigozhin’s claims have been corroborated by the Institute for the Study of War, with the Washington-based think tank saying in its daily report on Tuesday that “Russian forces have likely captured the eastern part of Bakhmut east of the Bakhmutka River following a controlled Ukrainian withdrawal.”
The battle for Artyomovsk – a major stronghold and logistics hub for Kiev’s forces in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) – has been underway for months, being described by some as the fiercest in the conflict between Moscow and Kiev. Earlier this week, Russian officials said the encirclement of the city had almost been completed and reported heavy street battles inside it.
Speaking about Artyomovsk earlier this week, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin suggested that the city was more of symbolic than operational importance. “The fall of [Artyomovsk] won’t necessarily mean that the Russians have changed the tide of this fight,” the Pentagon chief said.
However, Austin was contradicted by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, who explained that “taking [Artyomovsk] under control will allow [the Russian forces] further offensive actions deep into the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has repeatedly insisted that he wouldn’t surrender the city, despite reports of his Western backers and military advisers reportedly urging him to cut his losses and withdraw.
Senior Biden administration officials told the Washington Post in late February that the Ukrainian leader “attaches symbolic importance” to the city and fears a setback to morale if it were captured by Russian forces.
** ‘Bakhmut will fall’ – Ukrainian tank soldier to AFP
Despite the Ukrainian leadership’s insistence that its armed forces will continue to defend the Donbass city of Artyomovsk, also known as Bakhmut, there are indications of a looming retreat, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Bakhmut will fall,” a Ukrainian tank operator told AFP in the town of Chasov Yar, about 10 km (six miles) west of Artyomovsk. “We are almost encircled. The units are progressively retreating in small groups.”
The unpaved road connecting the two settlements remains the only one that is relatively safe from Russian attacks, the man claimed, warning that if Ukrainian armor gets bogged in the dirt, the vehicles could become easy targets for Russian artillery.
The news agency also cited the US-based Institute for the Study of War, which recently assessed that Kiev was conducting a limited tactical withdrawal from the city, which could lead to a strategic retreat.
On Monday, Kiev announced that it would keep reinforcing its position in Artyomovsk, despite heavy losses reported on both sides. President Vladimir Zelensky’s office claimed the decision to defend the town was supported by Valery Zaluzhny, Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.
However, according to sources in Kiev cited by the German newspaper Bild on the same day, Zaluzhny urged Zelensky to order a retreat weeks ago, which the president refused to do.
According to Wall Street Journal, some of the best-prepared Ukrainian units have been routed during fighting in the vicinity of Artyomovsk in recent months. There is a concern in the military that the losses would undermine the effort to mount a counteroffensive in the spring and summer.
“Here, we are using up too much of the offensive potential that we’ll need for a breakthrough once Ukraine’s black earth dries up,” a battalion commander told the US outlet.
US officials downplayed the importance of Artyomovsk for the military situation in Donbass. Its possible loss by Ukraine “won’t necessarily mean that the Russians have changed the tide of this fight,” US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin explained on Monday, as cited by Reuters.
According to media reports, Zelensky fears a morale hit, having invested a symbolic significance in the settlement, which he declared a Ukrainian fortress.
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Ukraine says it repels attacks on Bakhmut as Russia claims partial control
Ukraine's military said it managed to push back intense Russian attacks on the city of Bakhmut despite a Russian claim of control over its eastern half and the NATO chief's warning that the city could fall in the next few days.
As one of the bloodiest battles of the year-long war ground on amid the ruins, Ukrainian defenders - who last week appeared to be preparing for a tactical retreat from Bakhmut - remained defiant on Wednesday.
"The enemy continued its attacks and has shown no sign of a letup in storming the city of Bakhmut," the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Facebook. "Our defenders repelled attacks on Bakhmut and on surrounding communities."
Ukrainian military and political leaders now speak of hanging on to positions and inflicting as many casualties as possible on the Russians to grind down their fighting capability.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a nightly video address of the battle for Bakhmut and the surrounding Donbas region: "This is our first priority."
Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, said his fighters had captured the eastern part of Bakhmut. If true, Russian forces would control nearly half the city in a costly pursuit of their first big victory in several months.
"Everything east of the Bakhmutka River is completely under the control of Wagner," Prigozhin said on the Telegram messaging app.
The river bisects Bakhmut, which sits on the edge of Ukraine's Donetsk province that is already largely under Russian occupation. The city centre is on the west side of the river.
Prigozhin has issued premature success claims before and Reuters was not able to verify the situation on the ground.
On Tuesday near Bakhmut, a Ukrainian National Guard chief medic who gave his name as Artem told Reuters that all roads out of the city were under constant heavy shelling.
"Ambulances and other vehicles come under shelling and for that reason it is very difficult to evacuate people. There are high losses, and among medics in particular," he said.
ARMS BUYING PUSH
Russia was throwing more troops into the battle, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said before a meeting of European Union defence ministers in Stockholm.
"They have suffered big losses, but at the same time we cannot rule out that Bakhmut may eventually fall in the coming days," Stoltenberg said.
This would not necessarily be a turning point in the war, he added, but it showed "we should not underestimate Russia".
EU defence ministers agreed to speed up the supply of artillery rounds and buy more shells to help Ukraine's military, which is burning through shells faster than its allies can manufacture them.
Under the plan, EU states would get financial incentives worth 1 billion euros to send more of their artillery rounds to Kyiv, while another 1 billion euros would fund joint procurement of new shells.
DEVASTATED CITIES
Russia has said it has annexed nearly 20% of Ukraine's territory. Taking Bakhmut would be a step towards seizing the whole of the industrial Donbas region on its border, Moscow says.
Western analysts say Bakhmut has little strategic value, although its capture would be a boost to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his military after a series of setbacks in what they call their "special military operation".
Kyiv says the losses suffered by Russia there could determine the course of the war, with Ukraine expected to launch a counteroffensive when the weather improves and it receives more Western military aid, including heavy battle tanks.
The months of warfare in the east have been among the deadliest and most destructive since Russia invaded in February 2022, adding Bakhmut's name to a list of devastated cities such as Mariupol, Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.
A Ukrainian military drone showed the scale of destruction in Bakhmut, filming apartment blocks on fire and smoke billowing from residential areas.
Iryna Vereshchuk, a deputy Ukrainian premier, said fewer than 4,000 civilians - including 38 children - out of a pre-war population of some 70,000 remain in Bakhmut.
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a Senate committee that Washington did not foresee the Russian military recovering enough this year to make major territorial gains.
Russia casts its invasion of Ukraine as a response to threats to its security from its neighbour's ties to the West.
RT/Reuters
