Kyiv, March 3. The Ukrainian army has assured that its troops have the possibility of withdrawing from the eastern town of Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region, where they are engaged in heavy fighting with Russian troops, but such a decision will only be taken if it is “absolutely necessary”. “.
“As long as the command sees that it makes sense to maintain a certain settlement, it will fight for it,” Eastern Operational Command spokesman Serhiy Cherevaty said in statements on local Ukrainian television, referring to the situation in this city. .
“If tactical action needs to be taken, it will be,” the military was quoted as saying by The Kyiv Independent.
The strategic town of Bakhmut has for weeks been the epicenter of fighting between Ukrainians and Russians, as control of the area would allow Moscow’s army to seize a corridor in eastern Ukraine by which she could move troops and materiel in a safe way.
The group called Wagner, a mercenary unit linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, also operates in this area and is the Kremlin’s main assault force.
For now, Ukrainian forces are “heroically” clinging to the largely destroyed city, even “as Russia intensifies its deadly attack”, Cherevaty said in statements released last night.
“The Bakhmut front fighters are heroically defending this segment of the front while exhausting, bleeding and weakening the enemy,” he added.
The Ukrainian government recently acknowledged the difficulties of its army in maintaining control of the area and announced the dispatch of additional reinforcements.
The head of the Wagner Group himself, the Russian oligarch Yevgueni Prigozhin, confirmed on Thursday that Ukraine is sending reinforcements to fight against its men and that the enemy offers, he explained, “fierce” resistance. to keep the city.
“(The Ukrainians) are sending additional reserves to the forest near Artiomovsk (Russian name for Bakhmut) and are trying by all means to hold the city,” Prigozhin said.
The Wagner boss posted a video Friday with members of his mercenary army near the city center.
For some analysts, despite the worsening situation in Bakhmut for the Ukrainians, its defense is a strategically sound operation that will continue to force Russian troops to spend manpower and equipment on costly attacks. “
In the city, which once had a population of around 70,000, there are barely 5,000 left, including 37 children, most of whom refuse to leave their homes, Donetsk region governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Thursday. EFE
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