Russian forces on Tuesday continued tightening the noose around the key city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s Donetsk region in the east, where Ukrainian soldiers described the situation as “much worse than officially reported.”
Moscow’s troops have been making incremental territorial gains around Bakhmut in their months-long drive to capture the city, which has seen some of the fiercest battles of the war, now in its second year.
Taking Bakhmut would be Russia’s first major victory in more than six months and open the way for bringing to heel the last remaining urban centers in the Donetsk region.
“The situation [in Bakhmut] is getting more and more difficult,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged in his nightly address Monday. “The enemy is constantly destroying everything that can be used to protect our positions, to gain a foothold and ensure defense. Our warriors defending the Bakhmut sector are real heroes.”
Russian troops, including mercenaries from the Wagner Group, are trying to cut the Ukrainian forces’ supply lines and force them to surrender or withdraw.
A Soviet-era Grad multiple rocket launcher at Russian positions in the Kharkiv area, Ukraine, on Feb. 25, 2023. AP
Ukrainian servicemen of the 3rd Separate Tank Iron Brigade take part in a drill, not far from the frontlines, in the Kharkiv area, Ukraine, on Feb. 23, 2023. AP“Despite significant losses, the enemy threw in the most prepared assault units of Wagner, who are trying to break through the defenses of our troops and surround the city,” Ukraine’s Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a statement.
A soldier fighting in Bakhmut confirmed to CNN that the situation on the ground is becoming increasingly difficult for Kyiv’s forces.
“It is much worse than officially reported,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We should add another 100% difficulty to the official reports. In all directions. Especially in the northern direction, where the orcs [Russians] have made the biggest advance.”
A priest blesses Ukrainian servicemen during a flag ceremony where some of them were honored for their bravery and accomplishments in battle, in the Kharkiv area, Ukraine, onFeb. 25, 2023. APDespite the growing pressure on the Ukrainian defenders in Bakhmut, the soldier insisted “the city will be defended until the end, no matter what.”
“We all understand that we are holding on and dying to win time for a counteroffensive in the spring,” he added. “We cannot give up every city without a fight.”
Russian forces, replenished by hundreds of thousands of conscripts, have been ramping up attacks on Ukraine in a bid to deliver a decisive blow before Kyiv receives much of the modern tanks and weapons pledged by its Western allies in preparation for a counteroffensive.
Ukrainian servicemen of the Prince Roman the Great 14th Separate Mechanized Brigade stand around a Soviet-era Grad multiple rocket launcher before firing at Russian positions in the Kharkiv area, Ukraine, on Feb. 25, 2023. APAnother unnamed soldier from Ukraine’s 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade, speaking on a Telegram channel as explosions sounded in the background, struck a defiant note: “February 28, the town of Bakhmut. The city is on fire, the enemy is pressing. Everything will be Ukraine…”
Ukraine’s military said Russia was shelling settlements around Bakhmut.
“Over the past day, our soldiers repelled more than 60 enemy attacks,” the military said early Tuesday, including on the villages of Yadhidne and Berkhivka north of Bakhmut.
Ukrainian servicemen of the 3rd Separate Tank Iron Brigade take part in a drill, not far from the frontlines, in the Kharkiv area, Ukraine, on Feb. 23, 2023. APA Reuters reporter who visited the area Monday said he saw no sign of Ukrainian forces withdrawing and that reinforcements were arriving despite constant Russian shelling.
Ukrainian soldiers in the Donetsk region crouched in mud-filled trenches after warmer weather thawed out the frozen ground.
“Both sides stay in their positions, because as you see, spring means mud. Thus, it is impossible to move forward,” said a commander of a Ukrainian frontline rocket launcher battery, watching a tablet screen for coordinates to fire.
Russia’s defense ministry claimed that its forces had destroyed a Ukrainian ammunition depot near Bakhmut, and had also shot down four HIMARS missiles and five Ukrainian drones.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the FSB security service Tuesday to beef up security in the four Ukrainian regions that Russia illegally annexed last year — and also to thwart what he described as growing espionage and sabotage operations by Kyiv and the West.
His comments come after a Russian regional governor said a drone had crashed near a natural gas distribution station Tuesday in an apparent failed attack near the town of Kolomna, just 68 miles southeast of Moscow.
Earlier, Russia’s defense ministry also accused Ukraine of launching two attempted drone attacks against two southern Russian regions overnight but said they caused no damage.
Medals sit on a table as Ukrainian servicemen adjust their hats before a flag ceremony where some of them were honored for their bravery and accomplishments in battle, in the Kharkiv area, Ukraine, on Feb. 25, 2023. APKremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated Moscow’s position that it is open to peace talks but that Kyiv and its allies must accept Russia’s territorial gains.
