British Intelligence: Ukrainian defenses at Bakhmut under heavy fire

British Secret Service
Ukrainian defenses in Bakhmut under heavy fire

According to British intelligence services, the Ukrainian defenses are still holding the western districts of the heavily contested city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

In the past 48 hours, however, she had been exposed to “particularly heavy Russian artillery fire,” like the Ministry of Defense in London. The reason for this is that the armed forces of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Russian mercenary group Wagner cooperate better.

According to the British secret services, the Ukrainian armed forces are facing significant supply problems. However, they would have withdrawn in an orderly manner from positions that they had to give up. In the center of the city, Wagner assault groups continued to conduct the main advance, while Russian Airborne Troops (VDV) relieved some Wagner units securing the operation’s northern and southern flanks, it said.

According to both warring parties, the situation in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which has been heavily fought over for months, has deteriorated further in recent days. According to their own statements, after months of fighting and heavy losses, the Russian attackers had recently gained ground and conquered around 80 percent of Bakhmut. Kiev, on the other hand, does not want to give up the city, which has now been almost completely destroyed, despite the problems. In this way, Ukraine wants to force the Russian attackers to carry out costly attacks and wear the Moscow troops down in this way.

The British Ministry of Defense has published daily information on the course of the war since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, citing intelligence information. In doing so, the British government wants to both counter the Russian portrayal and keep allies in line. Moscow accuses London of a disinformation campaign.

UK Ministry of Defense Twitter thread

dpa