Ukraine’s Eastern Front Witnesses ‘Bloody’ Fighting, Says kyiv
The battles for control of Soledar and Bakhmout in eastern Ukraine are the “bloodiest” for Russian and Ukrainian forces since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, said Mykhaïlo Podoliak, adviser to the Ukrainian presidency. “Lots of blood, lots of artillery duels, lots of close combat, especially in Soledar today”summarized Mr. Podoliak in an interview with AFP, noting that it was currently the “hottest point of the war”.
Russian forces, in particular the paramilitary group Wagner, have been trying to conquer this area of Donbass since the summer of 2022.
According to Mykhaïlo Podoliak, Russian military losses are “huge” et “the Ukrainian army is also losing men”. Mr Podoliak noted that the losses in the Bakhmout-Soledar area were essentially military, with few civilians still living in this area, unlike the Russian headquarters in the large city of Mariupol (south-eastern Ukraine) in the first month of 2022, which undoubtedly claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians, according to kyiv estimates. “We see the absolutely irresponsible attitude, to put it mildly, of the Russian elite towards its soldiers, who are dying there by the thousands”, he accused. He did not quantify the Ukrainian losses, but estimated that the Russians lost “10,000 to 15,000 men, maybe more”in this area since the summer.
Russia has been on the defensive in Ukraine since suffering a series of bitter setbacks between September and November 2022 in the east and south of the country. These defeats forced the Kremlin to mobilize hundreds of thousands of reservists, without much experience, under-equipped and poorly trained, to consolidate its lines.
Bakhmout and the small neighboring town of Soledar are the only place on the front where the Russian forces are still on the offensive, without however succeeding so far in conquering these localities.