Bakhmut: Cost of Russia’s battle for key Donbas city

New Delhi: The bitter fight for the key Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in Donbas (Eastern Ukraine) has exacted a huge price on the Russian forces. Steadfast Ukrainian resistance has killed dozens of Russian fighters in pitched battles and repelled waves of attacks.

The Chief of the Russian mercenary Wagner group Yevgeny Prigozhin, who visited the front in Ukraine, acknowledged the cost his force had to pay to push through the battle and how hard it was proving to make further gains.

Ever since the loss of Kherson — the only provincial capital Russia managed to capture hitherto since the start of the war on 24 February 2022 – Russia is trying to make some crucial gains on the ground to turn the tide of the war. Bakhmut, on the Russian crosshairs since the summer, is the strategic city in Russia’s plans to retake the initiative and move into other parts of eastern Ukraine.

Prigozhin, in the video shot during his trip to the front, said, “Everyone wants to know when we will capture Artemovsk (Russian name for Bakhmut)”

“In Artemovsk, every house has become a fortress. Our guys sometimes fight for more than a day over one house. Sometimes they fight for weeks over one house”, he adds.

Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance against the Russian assault on the city making any advance by the Russians very hard to realise.

“And behind this house, there is still a new line of defence, and not one. And how many such lines of defence are there in Artemovsk? Five hundred would probably not be an exaggeration”, Prigozhin adds.

Wagner group, which has played a key role in the Russian campaign in Bakhmut; the Ukrainian military sources; and even defence analysts in Russia say, has suffered heavy losses in months-long battle over the city. The video of Prigozhin confirms the loss borne by the mercenary group.

In a makeshift basement, morgue visited by Prigozhin, the video shows the bodies of fighters, who died in Bakhmut, on stretchers and in body bags. A pile of the bodies was at least shoulder-high.

“Here lie Wagner fighters who died at the front. They are now being put in zinc coffins and they will return home”, Prigozhin said, adding, “Their contract has finished, they will go home next week.”

Why Bakhmut is important for Russia?

Apart from the fact that it is in Donetsk, one of the four Ukrainian provinces Russia claims to have annexed, Bakhmut lies on a key supply line between Donetsk and Luhansk.

A TRT World report said, “Experts agree that the capture of Bakhmut could potentially change the course of the conflict and give Russia a platform to launch a broader campaign across many parts of Ukraine.”

Russia controlled around 65 per cent of these two provinces, both with a Russian-speaking majority, since 2014 through pro-Russia separatists. Ukrainian forces have been ever since trying to wrestle back control over these provinces.

However, after the Ukrainian counteroffensive that began around July last year, Russia has lost territory in these provinces and now controls around only 50 per cent.

Bakhmut also lies on the Russian road to the key industrial towns of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk of the energy-rich Donbas, which holds over 90 of Ukraine’s coal supplies. Taking over these cities can deprive Ukraine, which is already facing problems with electricity due to Russian strikes over its key infrastructure,  of the resources it needs to stay in the fight.

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