In the east of Ukraine, the Ukrainians are faced with difficult decisions: The situation in the fiercely contested city of Bakhmut is becoming increasingly tricky. Russian advances are approaching the last free connecting road. Overview maps show the current military situation.
The battle for Bakhmut is reaching the decisive phase: after months of artillery shelling and incessant ground attacks, Russian troops have surrounded the town on the edge of the Donbass, which once had around 75,000 inhabitants, on three sides. Russian raiding parties are approaching the last open connecting road in costly advances.
The situation around Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine is "extremely tense," they say. Russian Wagner mercenaries tried to encircle the city, said the commander of the Ukrainian defenders on the ground, Olexandr Syrskji. "Despite significant losses, the enemy used Wagner's best-prepared attack units," the Ukrainian military quoted the colonel-general as saying. The Wagner units tried to break through the defenses and encircle the city, Syrskji said.
According to consistent reports, heavy fighting is taking place both at Ivanivske in the west of the city center of Bakhmut and in the north-west of the city at the settlement of Jahidne. There is also intense fighting in the urban area of Bakhmut itself. In the past few days, Russian attack spearheads have moved closer to the river Bakhmutka in brutal house-to-house fighting in the eastern half of Bakhmut. Russian units have also entered the city from the north.
Russia has strengthened its armed forces in the Bakhmut area, the Ukrainian military said. Russian artillery shelled settlements around the city. "Over the past day, our soldiers repelled more than 60 enemy attacks," a spokesman for the Ukrainian General Staff said Tuesday morning in reference to Bakhmut and the surrounding area.
The most recent successes of the Russians in the north and north-west of Bachmut are particularly problematic for the defenders: The capture of the settlement of Jahidne - in peacetime not much more than a street village with a dozen houses - as claimed by the Wagner units - gives the Russians access to the hills to the west of the city. The situation on site is unclear. Russian attacks on the villages of Jahidne and Berkhivka on the northern approaches to Bakhmut have been repulsed, according to reports from Kiev.
If the Russian shock troops were able to establish themselves in Jahidne, defending the local link road through Khromowe further to the south-west would be made extremely difficult: deliveries of supplies and transport of the wounded are already only possible under combat conditions. Referring to the situation in northwestern Bakhmut, Ukrainian military expert Oleh Zhdanov said Russian troops had driven a wedge between Yahidne and Berkhivka. At the same time they tried to cut off the road west towards Chasiv Yar. "The southern part of Bakhmut is the only area that can be described as being under Ukrainian control. In all other areas, the situation is unpredictable," Zhdanov said. "It's impossible to tell where the front line is."
There is great concern that new Russian attacks could cut off the last way out of the Bakhmut basin. The route via Khromove in the direction of Chasiv Yar is already within range of Russian artillery shells, as is the entire open hinterland of Bakhmut. The wider district road T0504, which leads from Chasiv Yar through Ivanivske to Bakhmut, is no longer normally passable due to its proximity to the front line: Russian units have worked their way here to within sight. There is a risk of direct fire from Russian mortars, tanks, snipers and machine guns on the street.
The region in eastern Ukraine is currently experiencing a thaw - rasputitsa, as the Ukrainians call it. The streets become mud tracks. Rivers and fields turn into swamps. Added to this is the omnipresent danger of mines. "Both sides remain in position," Mykola, the commander of a Ukrainian missile launcher battery at the front, told a Reuters reporter. "Spring means mud. Therefore, it is impossible to move forward." And so you can see a number of military vehicles that got stuck.
"The situation is getting more and more complicated in the direction of Bakhmut," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj in his late evening video address. "The enemy is constantly destroying everything that can serve to defend our positions, fortify them and defend them," he said of the fighting in Bakhmut. He called the Ukrainian soldiers who have been defending the city for six months "true heroes".
The Ukrainians fight for every house with Russian Wagner mercenaries. Russian attacks on the city began last summer. So far, the defenders have been able to repel all attempts to capture or encircle the city. However, it is unclear how long the Ukrainians can hold out there.
