The battle for Bakhmut continues, and there is no withdrawal of Ukrainian troops. This is probably mainly due to the fact that the war of attrition for the strategically rather unimportant city has resulted in extremely high losses on the Russian side.
NATO intelligence estimates that for every Ukrainian soldier killed defending Bakhmut, there are at least five Russian soldiers. A military official from the North Atlantic Alliance told CNN. The officer spoke to the broadcaster on condition that he remain anonymous as he is not allowed to share the information. However, despite the favorable ratio, he also said that Ukraine suffered significant losses in defending the city itself.
The "Bild" newspaper also quoted a Ukrainian military adviser as saying: "We kill them at a ratio of 1:7 - that's the only military reason to hold Bakhmut." At the same time he criticized the decision to continue fighting for the city. "The decision to keep Bachmut was a good one, but they overdid it."
Army chief Valeriy Zalushnyi and the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, spoke on Monday at a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyi in favor of "continuing the defense operation" and "strengthening our position in Bakhmut". "Our defenders inflicted significant casualties on the enemy, destroying a large number of vehicles, forcing Wagner's best assault units to fight and reducing the enemy's offensive potential," Syrskyi said. There were also rumors about differences in the military leadership on the subject of retreat or continued fighting in Bakhmut. However, this is "disinformation," Zelenskyy said, and they are "very much in agreement."
The Institute for War Studies stated that Russia's major efforts to capture Bakhmut severely hampered the potential for further offensives. "The Russian military will likely struggle to sustain further offensive operations for a few months, giving Ukraine a chance to take the initiative," a recent report said.
