Bajmut is still the center of the Russian offensive in Ukraine. More than 200 Wagnerian soldiers have died in the last few hours, with 300 others hospitalized. In the video accompanying these lines, you can see the destruction of the city, including the iconic MiG-17 monument, which was completely destroyed.
Wagner’s troops are fighting to control AZOM, the city’s metallurgy plant. “Assault groups have occupied favorable positions in the industrial zone of the AZOM metal processing plant in Artyomovsk (the Russian name for Bakhmut),” a spokesperson told Russian news agency TASS. These positions, according to Márochko, allow Russian troops to “control the movements of the enemy, and create a good bridgehead for future advances of our forces.”
The assault on AZOM, as Russian military bloggers and the ISW have warned, could lead to heavy losses for the Wagners, as it is a vast territory with a high density of facilities and a network of underground passageways spanning tens of floors.
“Statements from some media outlets, ‘public opposition leaders,’ and experts only alert our enemies to the character of our movements. This is why I ask our media not to put the cart before the horse. Silence is golden,” condemned Wagner’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Meanwhile, Russia is increasing its pressure on the Kupyansk front in the annexed Ukrainian region of Lugansk, in order to regain control and continue advancing towards Kharkiv, one of the cities hardest hit by the war. However, this does not reduce the intensity of the fighting in Bakhmut, north of Donetsk. “The enemy maintained a significant military presence in Kupyansk and Liman in order to prevent our units from moving in other directions,” reported the Ukrainian military command in its war report.
The situation in other areas
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine added that the Russian troops punished with their artillery 13 colonies in the front line in this region, taken over by Ukraine during its counter-offensive last September, which dealt a severe blow to Russia’s morale.
Further south there is a activation of fighting around Avdiivka an important Ukrainian stronghold located just over 20 kilometers north of the regional capital of Donetsk, also in eastern Ukraine.
The former spokesman for the pro-Russian militias, Edward Basurin, reported that Russian troops are about to control the city of Krasnohirivka, in an attempt to tighten the siege of Avdiivka. Krasnohirivka lies north of Avdiivka, which means that Russian forces are beginning to gradually encircle this important Ukrainian place.
“The city is practically liberatedon the outskirts, the cleansing” of Ukrainian units is carried out, the retired colonel told TASS. According to Basurin, “the total liberation of Krasnohirivka This will allow Russian troops to tighten the pincers around Avdiivka more firmly.”
Pro-Russians denounce that Ukrainian troops have been bombarding the city of Donetsk and other nearby towns from Avdíivka, a fortified town north of the regional capital that Russian forces have been trying to capture almost since the start of the campaign.