At Bakhmut, the epicenter of the fighting in Dombass, the Russians delivered all their forces to encircle the town.
It is according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, “the most difficult and painful battle since the beginning of the war” : Donbass and the epicenter of the fighting, Bakhmout. The Russians deliver all their forces to encircle the city. The Ukrainians resist again and again, but for how long?
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There remains a small road to retreat, evacuate the wounded or supply. This is the last access route to Bakhmout: it starts from a checkpoint, installed on the edge of the canal in the small town of Tchassiv Yar. From there, Kakhmout is six kilometers to the east and the Russian positions only two kilometers. The exchanges of artillery fire are incessant.
Missile fire several times a day
Tor, that’s his soldier’s name, is about to hit the road. The man looks at his watch: in ten minutes, he will start his second round trip of the day to deliver ammunition to the heart of the fighting. “When I have to go, I’m scared, he explains. You have to drive as fast as possible. Right now, six or seven times a day, there are Grad missiles being fired. Our enemies are advancing and they’re trying to cut off the road so we can’t use it anymore. And when the explosions are close, I stop, hide and wait for it to pass.”
“It’s getting harder and harder to drive on this road because the shooting is getting more and more intense.”
The Russian troops spend lavishly, the Ukrainians hold their last positions with difficulty, and yet, it is necessary to resist at all costs.
Many losses on the Russian side
“When we send the guys to the front, we think it might be the last time we see them, sighs Oleksandr, the commander of the 1st airmobile brigade, in particular responsible for supplying the soldiers. At the moment the Russians are having Wagner’s mercenaries, the paratroopers, fight in Bakhmout. They are the most seasoned soldiers: they put all their energy into taking the city, but they are exhausted. Some die, others are injured. They have a lot of losses, and that’s more in our favour.”
Oleksandr sketches a smile and hints at an upcoming counter-offensive. It is not excluded, he said, before ending the interview.
The report of Thibault Lefèvre in the surroundings of Bakhmout
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