Rarely in the history of the war in Ukraine has so much been said, amidst so much death, about a place that mattered so little – but that is Bakhmut’s battle for you. Per hour.
The leader of the Russian mercenary company Wagner claimed on Saturday (20) that his men had captured the Ukrainian town after “224 days of fighting”. Kiev has denied the allegation – and insisted that not only has Bakhmut not fallen, but that it is being outflanked by Ukrainian forces.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Monday that Ukrainian forces still controlled some buildings in southwest Bakhmut and that the two sides were still fighting for control of “dominant flank elevations” to the north. and south of the city.
For months, Ukrainian commanders in charge of the troops on the ground, and the troops themselves, have been scratching their heads over why Russia was prepared to invest so much material and risk so many lives trying to capture a city that had no obvious tactics, let alone strategic.
The Wagner group, and whoever is paying the company’s bills, was profligate with its people.
In December, a member of the International Legion of Defense of Ukraine, fighting in a group of about a dozen men south of the city, called from the front line.
“It’s amazing,” he told me. “These Wagner guys come in waves of, like, 40 at a time. We kill 35. Five go into a trench or a house, then they send 40 more and we shoot another 35 or more. We are just cutting them like grass.”
It was assumed that the “musicians”, as pro-Russian groups like to call the mercenaries, were largely prisoners. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the company, likes to call them “repeat offenders”.
These convicted recruits, some of them facing lengthy sentences, were given freedom if they survived six months at the front.
Clearly many do not. Instead, they were thrown into what both sides call a “meat grinder”.
“They are coming for us all the time. We don’t know why they value Bakhmut so much, but we know where they are and we know where to kill them,” said a brigade commander late last year.
Meanwhile, Prigozhin has developed a taste for publicly criticizing Russia’s military leadership, its ministers and generals, its bureaucrats and businessmen — everyone but President Vladimir Putin himself.
In often bizarre videos, he accused them of running his men short of ammunition. He said that Russian regular troops were incompetent cowards.
How this will happen if he returns to Moscow is his business.
He was also identified by US intelligence documents as having offered to give Ukraine military secrets in exchange for an easy trip for his men in Bakhmut, according to the Washington Post. Prigozhin denied the report, suggesting it could have been planted by his enemies.
His saving grace, for Putin, may lie in the fact that he has been branded as the head of a transnational criminal entity by the US.
Lawmakers in France also passed a motion asking the French government and the European Union (EU) to designate Wagner as a terrorist organization. The UK government has declined to comment on reports that it is ready to do the same.
Blessing for the Kremlin?
Russia’s obsession with Bakhmut, combined with the malice of a mercenary leader who has publicly said his men will be killed if they refuse to fight, means the city has taken on iconic status in the wider war as Ukraine struggles to break free. of the Russian invaders.
So a victory for the Wagner group is a boon for the Kremlin — for now.
But the mercenaries say they want to leave this Thursday (25). And they are being outflanked north and south by Ukrainian troops.
If they’re the only people left in the rubble of the city, then it’s a free-fire zone and they’re in the middle of it.
Far from a victory, they risk being stung if Ukraine manages to close its jaws on them.
One might wonder whether this would really worry Putin or not.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
