KYIV — Ukrainian army commanders agreed on Monday to strengthen positions in Bakhmut, defending the eastern town that has become the epicenter of Russia’s grinding front-line attacks against Ukraine.
During a regular staff meeting for the supreme commander in chief, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed the situation in Bakhmut with Valeriy Zaluzhnyy, Ukraine’s armed forces commander-in-chief, and commander of the Khortytsia operational and strategic group of troops, Oleksandr Syrsky. Syrsky recently returned from Bakhmut, where he visited Ukrainian soldiers.
“The commanders talked about further actions in the Bakhmut direction and spoke in favor of continuing the defense operation,” Zelenskyy’s office said in a statement. “In addition, the parties discussed the supply of weapons and equipment and their distribution to operational directions.”
The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank, reported that Ukrainian forces may be conducting a limited withdrawal in eastern Bakhmut while continuing to fight against advancing Russian forces.
“Russian military bloggers have also lowered their expectations of Russian forces’ ability to launch additional offensives, which would likely culminate whether or not Russian forces actually capture Bakhmut,” the think tank said in a statement. “If Russian forces manage to secure Bakhmut they could then attempt renewed pushes towards one or both of Kostyantynivka or Slovyansk but would struggle with endemic personnel and equipment constraints.”
The British defense ministry said Bakhmut was “under increasingly severe pressure.”
“Regular Russian Army and Wagner Group forces have made further advances into the northern suburbs of the city, which is now a Ukrainian-held salient, vulnerable to Russian attacks on three sides,” the government said.
The the ministry also noted Ukraine was reinforcing Bakhmut with elite units. “Within the last 36 hours two key bridges in Bakhmut have been destroyed, including a vital bridge connecting the city to the last main supply route from Bakhmut to the city of Chasiv Yar,” a British defense ministry statement read. “Ukrainian-held supply routes are very limited.”
Ukrainian Army Command East Spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyi has confirmed the situation is critical in Bakhmut, but added that it is still possible to deliver supplies and evacuate the wounded.
“Yes, the Bakhmut-Kostyantynivka highway is quite dangerous. However, our units provide the opportunity to supply everything necessary to Bakhmut,” Cherevatyi said.
