Ukrainian soldiers help civilians escape the Russian siege of Bakhmut

Russian troops and Wagner’s mercenaries continue to strengthen the siege of the strategic city of Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region. The Ukrainian military is resisting, but is beginning to acknowledge the possibility of a “limited” and “controlled” withdrawal. Meanwhile, his soldiers try to help civilians escape the siege. The authorities estimate that in the city only about 4,000 of the 70,000 inhabitants remained which was before the war.

This Saturday, one woman was killed and two men were seriously injured in the Russian bombing when they tried to cross the bridge left the city impromptu, according to a group of soldiers who helped them, Al Jazeera reports. A representative of the Ukrainian military, who asked not to be named for operational reasons, said it was now too dangerous for civilians to leave the city in vehicles and that people had to flee on foot.

“Ukrainian forces appear to be establishing the conditions for a controlled withdrawal of parts of Bakhmut,” the Efe Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on Saturday. This analytical center reminds that Russian forces have been fighting to capture this city since May 2022 and that they have suffered “devastating” losses in this effort.

An adviser to the Ukrainian president, Aleksander Rodnyanskyi, admitted this week that Kiev could opt for cede positions in Bakhmut in case of urgent need. Rodnyanskyi also noted that Ukraine had fortified the area west of Bakhmut in such a way that even if its troops began to withdraw, Russian forces would not be able to quickly capture the entire city. According to the ISW, if the command deems it necessary to withdraw from the city, a limited and controlled withdrawal from the particularly difficult sectors of eastern Bakhmut is likely to take place.

However, according to British intelligence, in the last 36 hours they have been destroyed two key bridgesone of which connects the city with the last major supply route to Chasiv Yar, so routes outside the city are increasingly limited.

Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu He went to the Donetsk front – without revealing the exact location – to review the troops, in the midst of their conflict with the head of Wagner’s mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhinto whom it is attributed that Bakhmut will fall thanks to his men.

President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsol, In Lviv, he met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, to whom he expressed his belief that negotiations for Ukraine’s accession to the EU can begin this year, given the progress achieved by Kyiv.