OUR Ukraine intends to inflict attrition and heavy losses on the Russian troops trying to capture the small town of Bakhmut in Eastern UkraineThis was announced by the commander of the Ground Forces of Ukraine in a video published today.

In this video, General Alexander Shirsky, speaking to soldiers in what appears to be a large factory warehouse, said that Russia continues to focus on the Bakhmut area after months of fighting.

Moscow sees the capture of Bakhmut as vital to its efforts to assert complete control over the industrial region of Donbass in eastern Ukraine.

“They don’t stop trying to encircle and take over the city,” Sirsky said in a video posted on the messaging app Telegram.

“From now on, our main task is to wear down the enemy forces and inflict heavy losses on him. This will create the necessary conditions to help liberate Ukrainian soil and hasten our victory.”

“Military Necessity”

The pre-war population of Bahamut was about 70,000, but the city was virtually destroyed in about eight months of heavy fighting.

Sirsky meets troops at the front line as Ukraine prepares for a possible counter-offensive after 13 months of war. Yesterday he said that the defense of Bahamut was a military necessity.

Sirsky said his visits to troops close to the front lines are considered necessary for him and his commanders to come up with plans that will have “real results on the battlefield, not on the maps.”

His comments once again reflect Ukraine’s desire to keep Bakhmut rather than retreat to cut losses.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also visited troops in eastern, southern and southeastern Ukraine this month. Zelenskiy met with his commander-in-chief in Dnipro on Monday, the first such meeting outside the capital since the start of the war. Zelensky said that the meeting discussed the situation at the front, reinforcements and border guards – from Kherson in the south to Kharkov in the east – without clarification.

^{Source: APE-MEB, Reuters}