Over 90% of its inhabitants Bahamut they abandoned it, and tens of thousands of people died in fierce battles. In addition, both USA as well as its leaders NATO underestimate the strategic importance of the city, but, nevertheless, Russia And Ukraine fierce fighting continues there.

After eight months in the trenches, Ukrainian forces are now surrounded on three sides, Kyiv’s supply lines are in trouble, and Moscow says it now controls more than two-thirds of Bakhmut, including part of the city center.

Ukraine, however, has vowed to continue defending Bakhmut and is fighting heavy street clashes, mostly in the western part of the city, despite heavy casualties on both sides.

Some leading Western analysts believe that it makes sense for Ukrainian forces to acquire a powerful new defensive line, but Kyiv insists on Bakhmut.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the Bakhmut Fortress a symbol of resistance that is draining the Russian army, although he stressed on Wednesday that his troops could retreat if they were threatened with encirclement.

For Moscow, the fall of this particular city in the east would be its first major victory since mid-2022 and an impetus for its overall military action in Ukraine. The Russian side also claims to be “destroying” Ukrainian forces.

What do we know about Bahamut?

The city is located in the Donetsk region, in the predominantly Russian-speaking industrial region of Donbass, which Moscow wants to annex.

Before the war, its population was over 700,000, but Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said last month that fewer than 4,000 citizens were estimated to be left, including 38 children.

The Battle of Bahamut evokes memories of World War I when the fighting took place in the trenches, as well as artillery shelling or rocket launches over a minefield known as a “meat grinder”.

In the past, the city was the scene of violence: during the Second World War, the Nazis herded 3,000 Jews into a nearby mine, and then walled it up, brutally killing them.

Death zone;

Images of battlefields littered with the corpses of both Ukrainians and Russians have surfaced on social media, and Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Russian mercenary company Wagner that does most of the fighting, has posted photos of his dead fighters.

Casualty figures are classified, but US officials believe tens of thousands of Russian soldiers, many of whom were prisoners recruited by Wagner, were killed. A Russian official said on Thursday that Moscow had killed 15,000-20,000 Ukrainian soldiers.

Reuters was unable to confirm the exact number of casualties on the battlefield.

Zelensky’s aide Mykhailo Podolyak said Ukraine is continuing fighting in Bakhmut because the battle is pinning down Russia’s best units and weakening them ahead of a planned Ukrainian counteroffensive.

“The decision to defend Bahamut is now political, not military,” Polish military analyst Konrad Muzyka told Reuters, noting that the cost of Ukrainian losses now outweighs the benefits of maintaining control of the city.

What is the value of Bahamut for Russians?

Bakhmut is a regional transport and logistics hub and therefore could be useful to Russian forces, although this also depends on how badly its infrastructure is damaged.

For Russia, it may even become a “springboard” for the transition to two larger cities, which she has long dreamed of, in the Donetsk region: Kramatorsk and Slavyansk.

In the event of a Russian victory at Bakhmut, the aforementioned cities would be within the reach of Russian artillery. Moreover, Moscow will have to take control of them in order to complete what it calls the “liberation” of the “Donetsk People’s Republic”.

Zelenskiy told CNN last month that he was concerned that Russian forces would have “an open road” to the two cities if they captured Bakhmut, and said his order to detain him was a tactical decision.

The nearby town of Chasov Yar, west of Bakhmut, could be the next town to be attacked by the Russians, although it is on high ground and Ukrainian forces are believed to have built defensive fortifications in the area.

Western analysts and diplomats doubt that Russian forces will be able to capitalize on the victory at Bakhmut in time, given that they have been fighting protracted battles there, shelling the city since May and launching a ground offensive in August.

Russia’s erratic withdrawal from northeast Ukraine last year has also stripped it of territory that would make it easier for its forces to capture towns like Sloviansk if they were able to take control of Bakhmut.

Psychological reinforcement?

For Russia, Bakhmut would be a victory that raised the morale of its troops on the battlefield after the defeats of 2022.

For Ukraine, the loss of Bakhmut could demoralize its forces, even if it does not significantly change the strategic landscape, as its allies claim.

As a sign of how important Kyiv considers Bakhmut, Zelenskiy presented the U.S. Congress with a flag signed by the city’s defenders when he visited the United States in December.

“Keeping the city also helps keep Western support,” says Michael Kofman, an expert on Russian military affairs.

Zelensky told The Associated Press last month that he feared a Russian victory in Bakhmut would spark calls from the international community and within his country for a peace proposal, which he does not want to do.

If the city falls, however, Ukraine may find comfort in the fact that it has been able to hold off Russian forces for so long and strike them heavily, which suggests that any attempt by Russia to grab more territory will be just as difficult. .

Wagner win?

The capture of the city would also serve as an impetus for the high-ranking mercenaries of the Wagner group and its publicity-hungry founder Prigozhin.

The 61-year-old former prisoner and Western-sanctioned tycoon is trying to curry favor with Putin and use Wagner’s military successes as a means to bolster his political influence.

Despite evidence that the Kremlin has taken steps to limit Prigozhin’s influence, no one can dispute the fact that Wagner’s mercenaries, including the convicts he recruited, played an important role in the fighting in Ukraine.

Some Western military experts believe that Ukraine’s goal is to crush the Wagner forces in Bakhmut so that they cannot quickly cover their losses and pose a threat elsewhere, despite actively recruiting new members.

Prigozhin acknowledged that his mercenary unit had already taken a serious hit and that he would need more support from the Russian military to advance beyond Bakhmut if Wagner’s mercenaries caught on.

General Oleksandr Syrsky, commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, said during a recent visit that protecting Bakhmut has become a “military necessity.”

“The enemy suffers significant losses in manpower, weapons and military equipment, but continues to conduct offensive operations,” he said.

^{Source: Reuters.}

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