Great Britain: the Russian advance on Bakhmut could cause heavy losses

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces have advanced on Bakhmut, the eastern fighting town and a key target in the Moscow campaign, resulting in heavy casualties, but their assault will be difficult to sustain over time without more deaths, Britain’s military said in its statement on Saturday.

The British Ministry of Defense said in its latest tweet that paramilitary units of the Kremlin-controlled Wagner Group have captured most of eastern Bakhmut and the river running through the center of the city now marks the line of the forehead.

However, it will be a “great challenge” for Wagner Group forces to advance as Ukraine destroyed key bridges across the river, while Ukrainian sniper fire from fortified buildings further to the west turn a narrow strip of open ground towards the center into a “death zone”.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops and the mining town’s supply lines remain vulnerable to “continued Russian attempts to attack defenders from the north and south” as Russian forces attempt to close in by making a move pincers, the ministry said.

Separately, Russian military bloggers and other pro-Kremlin Telegram accounts claimed on Friday that Moscow troops entered a metal processing plant in northwest Bakhmuth. A Washington-based think tank later also referenced geotagged images showing Russian forces within 800 meters (yards) of the AZOM factory, a fortified compound.

The Institute for the Study of Warfare reported that Moscow’s apparent focus on seizing installations, rather than opting for a “wider encirclement of western Bakhmut” by trying to capture nearby villages, could trigger another spike in Russian casualties.

Elsewhere in the country, repair work continued on Saturday after a wave of Russian missile and drone strikes left six people dead and hundreds of thousands without heat or power two days earlier.

Ukraine’s electricity operator said supply problems persisted in four regions after the offensive, which included 80 Russian missiles and a smaller number of explosive-laden drones that hit residential areas and critical infrastructure across the country.