The Kremlin cheers, Russian experts doubt

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They wanted to conquer the city at all costs. The battle finally came to an end on Saturday. The Russians report that Bakhmut has been captured. As a result of the offensive actions of the Wagner units with the support of artillery and air force, “the liberation of the city of Artemovsk was completed,” according to the Russian Defense Ministry. It used the name Bakhmut, which came from the Soviet era. This ended the longest and bloodiest battle of Russia’s offensive war against Ukraine, which has been going on since February 2022.

The city, which had a population of 70,000 before the war, has been largely destroyed and abandoned. However, the capture of Bakhmut had taken on great symbolic significance for both sides given the fighting that had been going on for months and resulted in heavy casualties.

Victory is celebrated as a “historic event”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (70) congratulated the Wagner units and the army, the Russian news agency TASS reports on the basis of a statement from the Kremlin. And state television also proudly reports on the conquest.

The victory was celebrated on TV as a “historic event”. The reason: Military experts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) write in their analysis that since no major successes have been achieved in Ukraine, Putin is now trying to exaggerate Bakhmut’s capture as a major victory.

Russian war correspondents, so-called milbloggers, have also recognized this, the ISW continues to write. The conquest is just another step in the war. One blogger explained: “Bachmut is not Berlin.” With this he refers to the Second World War (1939-1945), when the Russian army conquered Berlin and thus ended the Second World War together with Great Britain, France and the US.

The Russians are preparing for the Kiev counter-offensive

In addition: Bachmut is apparently not fully occupied. Despite attempts by Russian troops to “take control of the entire city”, Ukrainian units “continued to defend several buildings and a number of fortifications in the southwestern part of Bakhmut,” said Ukrainian army eastern command spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyy. Sunday. evening on Ukrainian television.

At the same time, milbloggers warn about the planned Ukrainian counter-offensive. The Russian offensive in the winter hardly changed the course of the front. Now Russia and the West expect Kiev to take the military initiative again.

For several weeks now, the Russian troops have been concentrating on defense and trying to secure the more than 800 kilometers long front – with anti-tank ditches, anti-tank barriers and trenches. In some places there are three lines of defense. However, the extreme length of the front makes it difficult to predict where Kiev will attack. (jmh/AFP)

Source: Blick