Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said on Monday that the president discussed the situation in besieged Bakhmut with senior military leaders, and that two of them supported continuing to defend the eastern city against Russian forces.
In its statement published on its website, the office added that Valerys Al-Wajni, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and Oleksandr Sersky, Commander of the Ground Forces, “preferred the continuation of the defensive operation and the strengthening of the Ukrainian positions in Bakhmut.”
What is going on in Bakhmut?
Ukraine said Monday that its forces were still holding out in a pitched battle for control of Bakhmut, while Washington said that even if the city fell to the Russian offensive, it would not necessarily give Moscow an impetus in the war.
The head of the Wagner Private Military Group had requested that his forces be provided with more ammunition.
Russia is trying to encircle Bakhmut to secure its first major victory in more than half a year, at the height of a winter offensive that has turned into the bloodiest battle of the war.
The bloody fighting depleted the artillery reserves of both sides, with thousands of shells being fired daily along the eastern and southern fronts.
Kiev’s European allies are working on a deal to get more ammunition for Ukraine to use in the fighting.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to the Middle East, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he could not predict when or the possibility of the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city of Bakhmut, but its fall “would not necessarily mean that the Russians changed the course of this battle.”
“I think it has more symbolic value than strategic and operational value,” Austin explained.
Moscow says capturing the city would be a step towards its main goal of seizing all of the surrounding Donbass region.
For its part, Kiev says that the losses that Russia will incur as a result of its attempt to seize the city may determine the future course of the war by destroying its combat forces before the decisive battles that will rage later this year.
According to Volodymyr Nazarenko, one of the Ukrainian commanders stationed in Bakhmut, no withdrawal orders were issued and “the defense holds out” under difficult conditions.
“The situation in and around Bakhmut is like hell, just like on the entire eastern front,” Nazarenko said in a video on Telegram.
