Guillaume Dominguez, edited by Yanis Darras
In Ukraine, the struggle to obtain the city of Bakhmout between kyiv and Moscow is raging. Despite heavy losses, the Ukrainians refuse to retreat and want to stand up to the Russians. Because, if the latter obtain the city, they could have a weight advantage for the rest of the war.
It is the epicenter of the fighting between Russia and Ukraine. The city of Bakhmout in Donbass has been plagued by intense fighting for several weeks between the two armies, to the point of becoming the longest and bloodiest battle since the start of the war. And for good reason: the city is highly strategic for kyiv, as for Moscow.
Bakhmout thus enables the Ukrainians to contain Russian attempts to advance towards Kramatorsk, recognized today by kyiv as the capital of Donbass. It is for this reason that the Ukrainian army seeks to maintain control of the city and the hills surrounding it.
Protect the backyard
“If the Russians control Bakhmout and its hills, the city of Kramatorsk is only 30 kilometers away. They can then put cannons” in the direction of the city, explains Sergei, photographer for AFP, and who follows Ukrainian soldiers on the front line. “There, you really have to focus on a city so as not to widen the front line and to preserve strategic cities like Kramatorsk or even Sloviansk”, he continues at the microphone of Europe 1.
Keeping Bakhmout also makes it possible to protect the road and rail axes controlled by the Ukrainians. The order is therefore to hold despite the very heavy losses suffered by the Ukrainian army, as evidenced by the general mobilization in the hospitals of the region.