General Oleksandr Syrskyi, who was considered the most formidable Ukrainian commander after repeated successes during the war, directly contradicted the assessments of many Western military analysts, who claim that the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine will not have significant military significance.

In an interview with “Interfax-Ukraine” journalists, Syrskyi named the reasons why the Ukrainian army did not withdraw from Bakhmut, a city in the Donetsk region, which has become the epicenter of the war over the past six months.

“What is the military justification for such a long defense of Bakhmut, or, to put it simply, what does it give us?” Ukrainian journalists asked him.

The general replied that the battle for Bakhmut is important not only for the Russians, but also for the military command in Kyiv.

“In this direction, we restrained the enemy’s advance and did not allow him to expand the front line. In addition, we inflict significant losses on the enemy, destroying his most professional units, weapons and military equipment,” he said.

Syrskyi, who led the defense of Kyiv in the early months of the war and led the Ukrainian offensive in Kharkiv, then listed the reasons why Bakhmut is important to the defense of Eastern Ukraine:

• the city is an important defense node, the preservation of which ensures the stability of the defense of the group of troops in the area as a whole;

• Bakhmut is a well-situated natural fortress surrounded by rivers and perched on hills that aid the defenders;

• the defense of the city is also helped by high-rise buildings and developed infrastructure on the left bank of the Bakhmutova River, where Ukrainian troops are currently stationed;

• the battle for the capture of the city involves a special type of combat that requires special skills and creates difficulties for the Russian troops who attack from the forest-steppe area.

He also noted that Bakhmut is part of the Kostiantynivsk-Kramatorsk agglomeration, the preservation of which “does not allow the enemy to enter the flank and rear of our troops in the Donetsk and Lischan directions.”

Controversies regarding the military significance of Bakhmut

His comments came at a time when many Western military analysts, including the American Institute for the Study of War, have repeatedly stated in recent months that from a military point of view, the city of Bakhmut is not strategically important for the defense of Eastern Ukraine. in general.

The former commander of the Russian separatists in Donbas, Igor Girkin, expressed this opinion in September of last year, when Wagner’s mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin began storming the city only at the beginning of August.

“If the enemy manages to capture Liman, if he manages to reach Svatovoy, even if our forces capture Bakhmut in the meantime, it will not do our forces any good,” Girkin said in a video released on September 26.

“We will have to withdraw forces from the front again to cover the gaps,” he emphasized then, and then rhetorically asked why the military command in Moscow gave the order to attack Ukrainian positions, which are well defended, and why people are being spent the most. a valuable thing in war.”

The Ukrainian army entered Liman less than a week after these comments by Girkin.

But even in the following months, a significant number of military analysts considered Bakhmut to be quite important to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner’s mercenaries, and his attempts to gain as prominent a role as possible in the power structure of the Russian state. .

A dispute between Zelenskyi and his general leadership regarding the exit from Bakhmut?

On March 6, the German newspaper Bild, citing political sources in Ukraine, noted that disputes arose between the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi and his chief general Valery Zaluzhny, the Chief of the General Staff in Kyiv, in connection with the withdrawal of troops from here. .

According to Bild sources, Zaluzhny recommended several weeks before the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city, the military leadership in Kyiv believed that Bakhmut was not a city of strategic importance and that the exit from here would not have a decisive impact on the Donbas front.

But the Ukrainian political leadership would perceive this city as a symbol of resistance to the invading troops, because thousands of mercenaries of Wagner’s group, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, died here.

According to Ukrainian military sources, Zaluzhnyi wanted to protect his soldiers as much as possible, but Zelenskyi’s civilian administration fears that the same intense fighting will break out elsewhere if the Ukrainian military surrenders Bakhmut.

In fact, Zelenskyi has repeatedly emphasized this.

“We understand that after Bakhmut he could go further. He could go to Kramatorsk, he could go to Slovyansk, it would be an open road for the Russians after Bakhmut to other cities of Ukraine, in the direction of Donetsk,” he said in an interview with CNN on March 8.

“That’s why our guys stay there,” the Ukrainian president emphasized.

Disappointment of Ukrainian soldiers in Bakhmut

On March 6, the same day that Bild wrote about the alleged dispute between Zelensky and Valuzhny, The Kyiv Independent newspaper published a report based on several interviews with Ukrainian military personnel in the city.

They described the front as a “meat grinder” due to high casualties on both sides, charging that ill-trained and ill-trained battalions were thrown into the front line “to make the best of it” with little artillery support, armored vehicles, mortars, drones or tactical information. .

“We did not receive any support,” says Serhiy, a soldier who fought here.

Others said that Russian artillery, infantry fighting vehicles and enemy armored personnel carriers often shelled Ukrainian positions for hours or days, but Ukrainian heavy weapons could not stop it.

According to Ukrainian mass media, some of them complained about the lack of coordination and knowledge of the situation on the front lines on the part of the top military leadership, acknowledging the acute shortage of ammunition. Some of them also complained about having to use World War II-era weapons.

“When you go into a position, there’s not even a 50/50 chance you’re going to get out (alive),” another soldier said. The chances are “more like 30/70”, he believes.

In another report published by AFP on April 15, other Ukrainian military officials said the long-awaited Ukrainian offensive should be delayed.

“If one of us has a problem, we have to carry him from one to three kilometers to the nearest place where he can be cared for,” explained a Ukrainian military man from the front-line zone a few kilometers from the city of Bakhmut.

“Even a minor wound can be fatal under these conditions,” he adds as artillery fire rang out nearby.

Such difficulties are just one example of the problems that the Ukrainian military must overcome as it prepares for the counteroffensive it has promised for weeks against Russian forces.

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