Awaiting its expected broader counterattack in the coming weeks, Ukraine has confirmed that it has launched an offensive against the Russians in the city of Bakhmut, in the east of the country. General Oleksandr Sersky, commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, said they launched counterattacks in the city of Bakhmut, forcing Russian forces to abandon some positions.
However, he stressed at the same time that the situation near the besieged Bakhmut is still “very complicated,” as “heavy fighting continues while Russian forces are trying to break through the defense lines in several directions,” according to what local media reported.
He also added that members of the Wagner Group, along with other groups of Russian mercenaries, are flocking to the battle fronts despite the heavy losses, as he put it.
And the White House announced yesterday, Monday, that the estimates of the American intelligence services indicate that the losses of the Russian forces in the battles on Ukrainian soil have reached, since last December only (2022), 20,000 dead and 80,000 wounded.
He also pointed out that half of those killed belonged to Wagner, and the majority of them were former prisoners “who were thrown into the fighting in Bakhmut without adequate military training or leadership.”
It is noteworthy that, for months, Russia has clung to control of Bakhmut, which it considers a major axis in the slow progress of its forces in eastern Ukraine, more than a year after the launch of the ground invasion, which will enable it to advance more widely to control the entire Donbass region.
Wagner, headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, formed the spearhead in that violent battle that inflicted heavy losses on both sides, as Prigozhin himself admitted a while ago.
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2023-05-02 05:27:00
