The Russian paramilitary group Wagner claimed on Wednesday the capture of the eastern part of Bakhmout, a city at the heart of fighting for months and whose fall would leave “the way free” for the Russian army in eastern Ukraine according to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
For his part, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, arrived in Kiev for his third trip to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion, a trip dedicated to the extension of the agreement with Russia on the export of Ukrainian cereals by the Black Sea.
“The Wagner units have taken the entire eastern part of Bakhmout, all that is east of the Bakhmoutka river” crossing the city, said in an audio message the boss of the paramilitary organization, Evguéni Prigojine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured, in an interview with American television CNN broadcast on Wednesday, that his troops were determined to hold out in the city.
“I had a meeting with the Chief of Staff yesterday and the military commanders-in-chief […] and they all said that we had to stay strong in Bakhmout”, he said, while ensuring “to think about the life of our soldiers” in the largely destroyed and partially besieged locality.
After Bakhmout, the Russians “could go further. They could go to Kramatorsk, they could go to Sloviansk, the way would be free” for them “to other cities in Ukraine”, Mr. Zelensky warned.
Despite fierce Ukrainian defense since the battle for Bakhmut began in August, Russia vowed to conquer the city.
Bakhmout “is an important node (of the lines) of defense of Ukrainian soldiers in Donbass”, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday, saying that its capture would allow “new offensive operations in depth”.
Tactical withdrawal?
The battle of Bakhmout is the longest and deadliest since the outbreak of the Russian offensive in February 2022. While the strategic value of this city is disputed, it has gained symbolic importance, given the heavy losses suffered by both fields.
Speculation has been rife for weeks about a tactical withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Bakhmout.
In its latest report, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) also estimated that Kremlin troops had “probably” captured the eastern part of Bakhmout, after a “controlled withdrawal” of Ukrainian forces.
But Mr. Zelensky challenged any desire to cede the city, even ordering Tuesday to send reinforcements there.
Moscow has been searching for a victory since its bitter defeats in the fall, and hopes that the city’s fall can open up control of the part of Donbass, an industrial region in eastern Ukraine, which it still escapes.
Wagner’s troops led this attack at the cost of very heavy losses, even by Evguéni Prigojine’s own admission. Moreover, the latter is in open conflict with the military hierarchy, which he accuses of not delivering enough ammunition to his men.
The Russians seem to control access to the city from the north, south and east, leaving only one exit route from the west to the Ukrainians.
Ammunition Delivery
While observers point out that the battle for Bakhmout also has a very high human and military cost for Kiev, the Ukrainians are determined to resist Bakhmout to wear down the Russian forces, in anticipation of a counter-offensive that they want to launch with the heavy armaments and modern armor promised by the West.
The Defense Ministers of the European Union are also meeting on Wednesday in Stockholm, in the presence of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and their Ukrainian counterpart Oleksiï Reznikov, on this subject.
The objective is to prepare a three-part plan for ammunition deliveries to Ukraine which should be adopted on March 20, during a meeting of the heads of European diplomacy.
On the sidelines of this meeting, Oleksiï Reznikov also challenged the information from the American daily New York Times who, citing unnamed US intelligence sources, attributes the spectacular sabotage of the two Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea to “a pro-Ukrainian group” last September.
“It’s not our action,” Reznikov said.
The Kremlin, which accuses the West of sabotage, also rejected this press information, seeing it as an attempt to “divert attention” from the real leaders.
Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Office said the viral video of a captured Ukrainian soldier apparently shot after shouting “Glory to Ukraine” “seems genuine “.