Despite the high cost, Ukraine fought for every inch of Bakhmut to wear down the Russian forces

Kiev [Ukraine], May 22: The nine-month battle for Bakhmut destroyed the 400-year-old city in eastern Ukraine and killed tens of thousands of people in a demonstration of Ukraine's strategy of wearing down the Russian military, devastating for both sides.
The "fog" of war today made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the longest battle of the Russian invasion: the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that Wagner's private army, supported by Russian troops, had captured the city. The President of Ukraine, VolodymyrZelensky, said that Russian forces have not fully occupied Bakhmut.
Regardless, that small town has long had more symbolic than strategic value for both sides. A more significant indicator of the success of the Ukrainian forces was their ability to keep the Russians at bay there. Ukraine's military has aimed to drain the resources and morale of Russian troops on a small but tactical stretch of the 1,500-kilometer front line, as Ukraine says it is preparing for a major counteroffensive in the now 15-month-old war.
"Despite the fact that we now control a small part of Bakhmut, the importance of its defense does not lose importance," said Lt. Gen. OleksandrSyrsky, commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. "This gives us the possibility to enter the city in case the situation changes. And that will certainly happen."
About 55 kilometers north of the capital of the Russian-held Donetsk region, Bakhmut was an important industrial center surrounded by salt and gypsum mines and home to 80,000 people before the war in a country of more than 43 million.
The city, named Artyomovsk after the Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, was famous for its sparkling wine produced in underground caves. It was popular with tourists for its wide avenues of trees, lush parks and magnificent city center with imposing mansions from the late 19th century. All of it is now reduced to a smoldering wasteland.
In recent months, Russia and Ukraine have fought fiercely over the very center of the city, where Ukrainian commanders have admitted that Moscow controls more than 90 percent. But even now, Ukrainian forces are making significant progress near strategic roads through the countryside just outside Bakhmut, breaking through Russia's northern and southern flanks meter by meter, aiming to encircle Wagner's fighters inside the town.
"The enemy failed to encircle Bakhmut. They lost part of the heights around the city. The continuous advance of our troops in the suburbs greatly complicates the presence of the enemy," said Hanna Maliar, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine. "Our troops occupied the town in the semi-circle, which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy".
Ukrainian military leaders say their months-long resistance was worth the sacrifices because it limited Russia's capabilities elsewhere and allowed Ukrainian forces to advance.
"The main idea is to wear them down and then attack," Ukrainian Colonel YevhenMezevykin, commander of the specialized group fighting in Bakhmut, said on Thursday.
Russia has deployed reinforcements to Bakhmut to fill the lost northern and southern flanks and prevent further Ukrainian incursions, according to Ukrainian officials and other outside observers.
Russian President Vladimir Putin needs a victory in Bakhmut, where Russian forces have focused their efforts, analysts say, especially since his forces' winter offensive has failed to capture other towns along the front.
Some analysts have said that even Ukraine's tactical gains in the villages near Bakhmut may be more significant than they appear.
"It was almost as if the Ukrainians just took advantage of the fact that, in fact, the Russian lines were weak," said Phillips O'Brien, a professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews. "The Russian army has suffered such great losses and is so worn out around Bakhmut that... it can no longer advance".
Ukrainian forces on the outskirts of Bakhmut and in the city suffered relentless artillery attacks until a month ago. That's when Ukrainian forces positioned south of the city saw their chance for a breakthrough as reconnaissance drones showed that the southern Russian flank had gone on the defensive, Col. Mezhevikin said.
After weeks of fierce fighting, Ukrainian units then advanced for the first time in the Bakhmut area since the invasion nine months ago.
Still, nearly 20 square kilometers of territory has been recaptured, Maliar said last week.
A victory in Bakhmut does not necessarily bring Russia closer to conquering the Donetsk region, which is Putin's war goal. Instead, it opens the door to fiercer battles in the direction of Slavyansk or Kostyantinovka, 20 kilometers away, said Katerina Stepanenko, a Russia analyst at the US think tank Institute for the Study of War.
Satellite images released this week show infrastructure, blocks of flats and landmark buildings reduced to rubble.
This week, days before Russia announced that the city had fallen under its control, Ukrainian forces held only a few buildings amid sustained Russian bombardment. Outnumbered and armed, they described nightmarish days.
Russia's artillery dominance is so vast, accompanied by constant human waves of mercenaries, that defensive positions cannot be held for long.
"The importance of our mission to stay in Bahmut lies in the engagement of significant enemy forces," said TarasDeiak, commander of the volunteer battalion's special unit. "We are paying a high price for this".
The northern and southern flanks retaken by Ukraine are located near two highways leading to ChasivYar, a town 10 kilometers from Bakhmut, a key logistics supply route.
Ukrainian forces passing this way often came under fire from Russians positioned along the nearby strategic heights. Armored vehicles and trucks driving towards the city to replenish Ukrainian troops were often destroyed.
With the heights now under Ukrainian control, its forces have more room to maneuver.
"It will help us establish new logistics chains for the delivery of ammunition and the evacuation of the injured or killed," Deiak said on Thursday, two days before Russia said it controlled the city.
Source: Beta News Agency