Bakhmut fights “extremely tense” as Russia closes in, says Ukraine

Kyiv:

Ukraine said on Tuesday its troops were under increasing pressure in the battered frontline city of Bakhmut in the industrial east, a major prize for the Kremlin after months of brutal fighting.

As fighting raged, Moscow said it shot down Ukrainian drones targeting civilian sites on Russian soil, while another crashed near the capital.

“The situation around Bakhmut is extremely tense,” said Ukrainian ground forces commander Oleksandr Syrskyi.

“Despite significant casualties, the enemy has sent its best-trained Wagner assault units to try and break through our troops’ defenses and encircle the city,” Syrskyi added, referring to the Russian group of mercenaries.

Bakhmut, which once had a population of about 70,000, has seen a gradual exodus and now only 5,000 civilians remain, including some 140 children, the regional governor said this month.

Bakhmut ‘will fall’

“I think Bakhmut will most likely fall,” a Ukrainian soldier with the call sign “Fox” told AFP journalists in Bakhmut this week, admitting Russian troops were making gains around the city.

“They say (Russian soldiers) are idiots, alcoholics and drug addicts,” said the 40-year-old.

“But they have smart people there, people who know how to fight… They think, they learn, the same way we do.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who visited the devastated city in December, has said his troops will continue to fight for Bakhmut as long as possible.

He has also urged allies to send more weapons to help Ukraine both hold the city and regain territory in the Donetsk region.

Analysts say the city has more political importance than military value, with Moscow eager for any victory after months of slow gains in the east and setbacks elsewhere.

Valerii, a resident of Bakhmut, told AFP he had no intention of leaving the city no matter how fierce the fighting gets.

“My apartment is over there. And frankly, I will die in my apartment, or near my building. Where would we go? Who needs us?” he said.

The Russian Wagner Group, a once shadowy force founded by Kremlin-linked businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, is at the center of the battle for Bakhmut.

The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on Tuesday that regular Russian forces are now “attempting to institutionalize tactics used by the Wagner Group to marginal tactical effect”.

Drones shot down over Russia

The assessment of fighting in the east came as Russia said it shot down drones approaching civilian targets.

The incidents are the latest in a string of suspected attacks in Russia in recent months that Moscow has blamed on Kiev.

Officials said they downed drones over the southern Krasnodar region, the Adygea Republic, and over the Bryansk border region.

Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov, meanwhile, said a drone likely targeting civilian infrastructure also crashed near the capital.

“There are no casualties or damage on the ground. The FSB (security services) and other competent authorities are investigating,” he said.

During a meeting with the FSB, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the security services must strengthen their work to secure Russia’s borders.

Vladimir Putin’s closest ally and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko arrived in Beijing for a three-day trip that will include talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Mr Lukashenko’s visit comes shortly after Beijing published a position paper on Russia’s war in Ukraine, emphasizing its neutrality and calling for dialogue between the two sides.

It also follows allegations from the United States and NATO that Beijing is considering sending arms to Russia as the conflict enters its second year. China has strongly denied the claims.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the priority for Ukraine was to repel the Russian invasion with the support of allies and that the country would join the alliance in the “long term”.

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