Ukraine has announced its will to defend the eastern battleground Bahmut, which is under siege by Russian forces. As Russian troops surrounded the city on three sides and the possibility of capture increased, the Ukrainian army’s ‘strategic withdrawal’ was also raised, but it was nailed the position that it would continue to defend the city.
The Office of the President of Ukraine issued a statement on the 6th (local time) and said at a regular meeting of the Armed Forces General Staff presided over by President Volodymyr Zelensky that day, it was decided to continue the operation to defend Bakhmut and strengthen the current positions of the Ukrainian armed forces.
It was reported that the situation in Bahmut was reviewed in detail at a meeting attended by top government and military leaders, including President Zelensky, Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzny, Ground Forces Commander Oleksandr Shirsky, Director of Defense Military Intelligence Kirillo Budanow, and Prime Minister Denis Schmihal. Participants also discussed supplying weapons and equipment to the Bahmut operation site.
President Zelensky said in his night speech that day, “No area is abandoned in Ukraine.” “I have instructed the commander-in-chief to find a unit to help our soldiers in Bahmut,” he added.
Bakhmut, a strategic town in Donetsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine, is an area where the longest and bloodiest battles are taking place in the current war. Russia has been concentrating firepower here for over seven months, deploying tactics due to mobilization of mercenaries, believing that if it occupies Bahmut, it can completely occupy the Donbas region, one of the Ukrainian invasion targets.
Recently, Russia has been on the offensive, pressing the city from three sides. Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, a private military company (PCM) in Russia that is leading the attack on Bakhmut, demanded the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops on the 3rd, saying that Bahmut was virtually surrounded. It was also reported that there was no supply route for the Ukrainian army except one road to the west.
Here, the commander of a drone unit of the Ukrainian army announced that he had received an order to withdraw, and as Ukrainian forces were spotted strengthening their positions west of the city’s outskirts, a ‘strategic withdrawal theory’ was raised. Ukrainian forces have been focusing mainly on the defense of the city for the past three months.
Although Russia has worked hard to occupy Bahmut despite a huge loss of troops, some point out that the occupation here is not strategic enough to have a decisive effect on the outcome of the war.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with reporters in Amman, the capital of Jordan, on the same day and said that he would not predict whether or not Bahmut would fall, but said, “I think (Bahumut) has more symbolic value than strategic and operational value.” He went on to say, “Just because Bahmut falls, that won’t necessarily mean that Russia has turned the tide of this fight.”
Defense Secretary Austin added that Russia was “continuing to send untrained and underequipped troops” to Bahmut, while Ukraine was patiently building its fighting force elsewhere with Western military aid ahead of the spring offensive.
Western military experts point out that it is strategically pointless for Ukrainian forces to hold on to Bahmut at the expense of troops. Some experts believe that Ukraine has already begun a gradual withdrawal.
Michael Koffman, director of Russian studies at the US think tank CAN, tweeted on the 5th that “the Ukrainian forces’ tenacious defense of Bahmut paid off in terms of inflicting huge losses on troops and ammunition to the Russians.” It might reach a breaking point in defense and hinder the success of other important operations of the Ukrainian forces for the offensive.”
Former British Army Chief of Staff Richard Dannott also said, “Now that Bahmut has served its purpose of serving as the anvil that took the lives of many Russians, it makes sense for Ukraine to retreat to a more defensible frontline and continue fighting there. right,” he said.
The War Research Institute, a think tank headquartered in Washington, said on the 5th that the Ukrainian army’s most strategic option is to withdraw to a position that is easy to defend. A gradual withdrawal is possible,” he predicted.
