“Enemy in the Trap”
Kiev reports capture of important heights near Bakhmut
7/10/2023 5:32 p.m
With heavy losses, Russian fighters capture Bakhmut in early May. For several weeks, Kiev’s troops have been gaining ground around the city. Now the traffic junction is said to be under fire control of the Ukrainian artillery again.
The Ukrainian army says it has regained control of key hills near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region from Russian troops. “In Bakhmut, our defenders have been keeping the entrances, exits and enemy movements in the city under fire control for several days,” Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar wrote on Telegram. “During the advance, our soldiers took control of important command heights around Bakhmut.” The commander-in-chief of the land forces, Olexander Syrskyj, had also announced that the Russian troops had been pushed back at Bakhmut. “The enemy is trapped,” the colonel general pointed out.
The badly damaged town of Bakhmut, which once had more than 70,000 inhabitants, was conquered in May after months of fighting by troops from the Russian mercenary group Wagner. In recent weeks, the Ukrainian army has reported progress around the city. The US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported a few days ago that the Ukrainians had made significant tactical gains near the village of Jahidne, two kilometers north of Bakhmut. The Ukrainian General Staff spoke of offensive operations north and south of the city.
In early June, Ukraine launched its long-awaited counteroffensive in the east and south of the country. Since then, according to information from Kiev, 169 square kilometers on the southern front and 24 square kilometers around the eastern town of Bakhmut have been liberated.
According to British military experts, the Russian armed forces have little reserves to reinforce the sector around Bakhmut. “The Russian defenders are most likely wrestling with low morale, ragtag forces and a limited ability to find and hit Ukrainian artillery,” Britain’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday. However, the Kremlin sees it as politically unacceptable to give up Bakhmut, which was one of the few Russian territorial gains in the past twelve months.