Russian mercenary boss says Bakhmut practically surrounded
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[March 03, 2023]
By Leonardo Bennasatto and Lisi Niesner
CHASIV YAR, Ukraine (Reuters) -Russian troops and mercenaries were
closing off the last access routes to the besieged Ukrainian city of
Bakhmut on Friday, on the cusp of Moscow's first major victory in half a
year after the bloodiest fighting of the war.
The head of Russia's Wagner private army said the city, which has been
blasted to ruins, was now almost completely surrounded, with only one
route out left open for Ukraine's troops.
Reuters journalists west of the city saw Ukrainians digging new trenches
for defensive positions there, and the commander of a Ukrainian drone
unit inside the city for months said he had been ordered to withdraw.
Victory in Bakhmut, with a pre-war population of about 70,000, would
give Russia the first major prize of a costly winter offensive after it
called up hundreds of thousands of reservists last year. It says it
would be a stepping stone to capturing the surrounding Donbas region, an
important war aim.
Ukraine recaptured swathes of territory in the second half of 2022 but
its forces have been on the defensive for three months. It says the city
has little strategic value but that the huge losses there could
determine the course of the war.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, appearing in combat uniform in a video
filmed on a rooftop, urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to
order a retreat from Bakhmut to save his soldiers' lives.
"Units of the private military company Wagner have practically
surrounded Bakhmut. Only one route (out) is left," he said. "The pincers
are closing."
The camera panned to show three captured Ukrainians - a grey-bearded
older man and two boys - asking to be allowed to go home. From visible
buildings, Reuters determined the footage was filmed in Paraskoviivka, a
village 7 km (4.3 miles) north of the centre of Bakhmut.
Both sides say they have inflicted devastating losses in Bakhmut. Kyiv
has said its forces are still holding out there, while acknowledging the
situation has deteriorated this week.
Volodymyr Nazarenko, a deputy commander in the National Guard of
Ukraine, told Ukrainian NV Radio the situation was "critical", with
fighting going on "round the clock".
"They take no account of their losses in trying to take the city by
assault. The task of our forces in Bakhmut is to inflict as many losses
on the enemy as possible. Every metre of Ukrainian land costs hundreds
of lives to the enemy," he said.
"We need as much ammunition as possible. There are many more Russians
here than we have ammunition to destroy them."
The commander of a Ukrainian drone unit active in Bakhmut, Robert Brovdi
who goes by the name "Madyar", said in a video posted on social media
that his unit had been ordered by the military to withdraw immediately
from the city.
He said he had been fighting there for 110 days, and gave no reason for
the order to leave.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin takes
part in the opening ceremony of the Year of Teacher and Mentor, via
video link in Moscow, Russia March 2, 2023. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool
via REUTERS
SCHOLZ IN WASHINGTON
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was due to meet U.S. President Joe
Biden at the White House to discuss additional military aid to
Ukraine.
Germany makes the Leopard tanks that are expected to be the core of
a new Ukrainian armoured force when they arrive later this year.
Scholz has been criticised by some Western allies for taking a
cautious public stance towards arming Ukraine, although he has
overseen a dramatic shift in policy from a country that was Russia's
biggest energy customer on the eve of the war.
Washington will announce its latest military aid package worth $400
million, mainly comprising ammunition and armoured vehicles. The
United States has provided nearly $32 billion in weaponry to Ukraine
since the invasion.
Biden and Scholz could also touch on concerns that China may provide
lethal aid to Russia, a senior administration official said.
The Biden administration is sounding out close allies about the
possibility of imposing new sanctions on China if Beijing provides
military support to Russia, U.S. officials and other sources said.
China has denied considering such assistance, and U.S. officials
have not publicly provided evidence for their suspicions.
Asked by reporters whether potential sanctions against China would
be a topic for Biden and Scholz, White House national security
spokesman John Kirby said "the issue of a third party support to
Russia could come up."
Tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers on both sides
are believed to have been killed since Russia invaded its
pro-Western neighbour a year ago.
Moscow, which says it has annexed nearly a fifth of Ukraine, accuses
Kyiv of posing a security threat. Ukraine and its allies say the
invasion was an unprovoked war to conquer land.
On the sidelines of a G20 foreign ministers meeting in India, U.S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken briefly met Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov face to face for the first time since the
invasion.
Blinken told Lavrov to end the war, and urged Moscow to reverse its
suspension - announced last week - of the last remaining nuclear
arms control agreement, U.S. officials said.
Speaking at a forum in the Indian capital on Friday, Blinken said
Russia cannot be allowed to wage war with impunity, otherwise it
would send "a message to would-be aggressors everywhere that they
may be able to get away with it too."
(Reporting by Reuters bureauxWriting by Peter Graff, Editing by
William Maclean and Timothy Heritage)
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