Russian forces are continuing an intense offensive to encircle the strategically important city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. Military analysts believe the fall of the city is now a matter of time.
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russian troops did not make any new breakthroughs in the Bakhmut area in the past days. But heavy shelling and constant infantry attacks, especially by Wagner's mercenary groups, put the city's defenders under increasing pressure. "The intensity of the war is only increasing," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily video address late Tuesday.
The UK Ministry of Defense said in its daily briefing on the war that Russia was using its Bryansk region, northeast of Kiev, as a new area of attack that would give air defenses around the Ukrainian capital city less time to react. Meanwhile in Russia, the country's defense ministry said on Wednesday it had repelled a Ukrainian drone strike in Crimea.
Russia has been trying to free Bakhmut since last summer. Thousands of troops recruited by the Russian Wagner attacked the city this winter in a strategy that military analysts have compared to World War I. In recent weeks, Russia has gradually advanced north and south of Bakhmut, encircling the city on three sides and taking control of two main roads supplying Ukrainian troops there. Many analysts say Ukraine will soon face the difficult decision to leave Bakhmut.
Bakhmut gained symbolic importance for both parties. But capturing the city would likely have limited strategic value for Russia as Ukrainian troops could retreat to protected positions on high ground a few miles west of the city, military analysts say. Russian forces slowly advanced several miles in the northern part of the front during the winter, near the towns of Svyatov and Kreminna, as well as around Bakhmut. Ukraine's armed forces are trying to limit attacks on their front-line troops as they prepare new brigades equipped with newly arrived Western tanks for use in their own offensives this spring and summer.
A year has passed since Russia launched its offensive in Ukraine, but the US and its Western allies show no signs of ending the conflict. The Kremlin continues to say that Kiev must accept Russia's territorial claims to several parts of Ukraine as a precondition for any peace talks. Kiev wants Russian troops to withdraw from its territory as part of any ceasefire deal.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Moscow, met Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday, praising Beijing's efforts to end the war in Ukraine. China has called for a ceasefire and peace talks but has not pressured Russia to withdraw from Ukraine. US officials have said China is considering supplying Russian forces with artillery and drones that could prolong the war, a claim Beijing has rejected. Source: Wall Street Journal.
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