Ukraine says Bakhmut battle is grinding down Russia's best units
Send a link to a friend
[March 11, 2023]
By Olena Harmash
KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine has decided to fight on in the ruined city of
Bakhmut because the battle is pinning down Russia's best units and
degrading them ahead of a planned Ukrainian spring counter-offensive, an
aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
The comments by Mykhailo Podolyak were the latest signal of a shift by
Kyiv this week to continue the defence of the small eastern city, site
of the war's bloodiest battle, as Moscow tries to secure its first major
victory in more than half a year.
"Russia has changed tactics," Podolyak said in an interview published by
Italy's La Stampa newspaper. "It has converged on Bakhmut with a large
part of its trained military personnel, the remnants of its professional
army, as well as the private companies."
"We, therefore, have two objectives: to reduce their capable personnel
as much as possible, and to fix them in a few key wearisome battles, to
disrupt their offensive and concentrate our resources elsewhere, for the
spring counter-offensive. So, today Bakhmut is completely effective,
even exceeding its key tasks."
Russia has made Bakhmut the main target of a winter push involving
hundreds of thousands of reservists and mercenaries.
It has captured the eastern part of the city and outskirts to the north
and south, but has so far failed to close a ring around Ukrainian
defenders.
Kyiv, which had seemed at the start of March to be planning to withdraw
westward, announced this week that its generals had decided to reinforce
Bakhmut and fight on.
Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said that, as Russia pressed its
offensive, "our soldiers are doing everything possible to prevent the
enemy implementing their plans".
Russia's advances have appeared to slow amid highly public complaints
from Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner private militia leading
Russia's assault, that the military command was failing to provide his
men with enough ammunition.
Prigozhin on Friday thanked the government publicly for a "heroic"
increase in output - but in the same audio message said he was "worried
about ammunition and shell shortages not only for Wagner ... but for all
units of the Russian army".
Moscow says capturing Bakhmut would punch a hole in Ukrainian defences
and be a step towards seizing all of Ukraine's Donbas industrial region,
a major target.
Trench warfare, described by both sides as a meat grinder, has claimed a
huge toll. But Kyiv's decision to stay and fight suggests it believes
Russia's losses far exceed its own.
MOSCOW SHORT OF MISSILES?
After making gains throughout the second half of 2022, Ukrainian forces
have been mostly on the defensive since mid-November, while Russia has
gone on the attack with troops called up in its first mobilisation since
World War Two.
[to top of second column]
|
A satellite image shows smoke from
recently dropped ordnance, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in
southern Bakhmut, Ukraine, March 6, 2023. Maxar Technology/Handout
via REUTERS
But apart from around Bakhmut, the Russian winter offensive has
largely failed. Meanwhile, Kyiv is awaiting a surge in Western
military aid expected in coming months for an offensive once muddy
ground dries in late spring.
Kyiv and the West also saw signs of exhaustion in Russia's latest
mass salvo of missile strikes on Ukrainian targets.
Russia fired hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of missiles
across Ukraine on Thursday, including an unprecedented six of its
hypersonic Kinzhal ('Dagger') missiles, touted as a superweapon to
which NATO has no answer. It is believed to possess only a few dozen
Kinzhals.
The barrage killed civilians, including a family buried under rubble
while they slept in their homes near Lviv, 700 km from the
battlefield. But otherwise it appeared to have achieved little, with
damaged power systems mostly quickly restored.
The worst damage appears to have been in the eastern city of Kharkiv,
where the regional governor said around 450,000 people were still
without power on Friday evening.
It had been three weeks since the last similar Russian attack, the
longest lull since such strikes began in October. Previously, Moscow
had been unleashing such attacks roughly every week, challenging
Ukraine's ability to repair infrastructure before the next
onslaught.
Britain's Ministry of Defence said on Friday the reason for the
longer lull was probably that Moscow was running out of missiles.
"The interval between waves of strikes is probably growing because
Russia now needs to stockpile a critical mass of newly produced
missiles directly from industry before it can resource a strike big
enough to credibly overwhelm Ukrainian air defences," it said.
Ukrainian resistance may also be having a wider effect on Russia's
economy.
Gas traders said tankers loaded with Russian liquefied petroleum gas
(LPG) were unable to get out into the Black Sea because it was not
considered safe for them to pass under the Crimean Bridge, a road
link across the mouth of the Azov Sea badly damaged in October by a
blast that Russia blamed on Ukraine.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Peter Graff and Kevin
Liffey; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Raissa Kasolowsky)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |