Victories are rare for the Russian army engaged in the war in Ukraine. The liberation of Kherson in early November by Ukrainian forces marked the latest big defeat for Moscow, whose military was forced to retreat. However, one area remains complicated, that of the Donbass. In Bakhmout, located 80 km north of Donetsk, and 100 km west of Lugansk, fighting rages daily and the Ukrainians seem to be struggling more to push back the enemy.
However, after months of battles and bombardments, the Russians still cannot claim victory and these fights seem to turn into an obsession. Why such relentlessness for the capture of this city? 20 minutes takes stock of the Battle of Bakhmout, where the fighting bogged down with the onset of winter.
Why is Bakhmout a prime target for the Russian army?
For months the Kremlin has been hoping to announce at least one victory in its “special operation” in Ukraine. The last Russian successes in Ukraine date back, in fact, to the beginning of the summer, when they were able to take the cities of Severodonetsk and Lyssytchansk. An eternity for the most warmongers in Moscow. The Russian forces then concentrate many efforts without major breakthroughs on the ground around the city of Bakhmout. For some observers, this battle above all illustrates Moscow’s desire to finally record a first victory. “The Russians are continuing their offensive to divert media attention from the setbacks of this fall,” Mykola Bielieskov, a researcher at the National Institute for Strategic Studies in kyiv, told AFP. A vision also shared by the Ukrainian military command.
“The Russian command wants to control the entire Donetsk region, and Bakhmout is the main gateway to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk”, two important cities in the Donbass, adds to AFP Michael Kofman, director of studies on Russia at the NAC. , an American research institute. Wagner’s boss, the sulphurous businessman Evgueni Prigojine, aims even more: “to destroy the Ukrainian army”. “This is why the operation was named ‘The Slaughterhouse of Bakhmout'”, he had indicated on the social networks of his company Concord.
What forces are fighting?
Because the Russian army is not alone in fighting against the Ukrainian forces in Bakhmout. She is supported by mercenaries from the Wagner group, including prisoners who have been promised a reduced sentence to enlist in Ukraine, and civilian reservists mobilized in September. The private company is also made up of hardened mercenaries in foreign theaters and professional Russian soldiers who have joined Wagner because they are better equipped and better paid than in the army.
Wagner is a Russian paramilitary militia. “It is certainly the least bad Russian armed force at the moment”, summed up 20 minutes Michel Goya, former naval colonel, historian and strategist. “Wagner has become a myth”, abounded Carole Grimaud, CREER founder in Geneva, expert at the Geneva Geostrategic Observatory.
Which army has the upper hand in this area?
The fights are tense. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky himself acknowledged a “very harsh confrontation” on the spot. “Every meter counts,” he added. But for the moment Russian progress remains minimal. Recently, troops from Moscow have advanced a little in the direction of Bakhmout, announcing the capture of small settlements. Without however seeming in a position to take the city, which would still have nearly half of its 70,000 pre-war inhabitants, according to the Ukrainian authorities.
Faced with Ukrainians who have had time to prepare their defense, the Russians seem to throw all their energy and equipment into the battle to take this city. A Western official interviewed by AFP said he was “perplexed” by the Russian objectives. With the onset of winter, many analysts believe that the current front line will stabilize after weeks of Ukrainian advances in the northeast and south. An AFP team recently saw in the Donetsk region the Ukrainian army bringing heavy artillery into the area, and groups of reservist soldiers were visible along the roads leading to Bakhmout controlled by kyiv.
What military strategy used?
Incessant bombardments, the strategy is the same as elsewhere. Russian artillery pounded the city, destroying all infrastructure, in the hope of a withdrawal of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers. For two days, the strikes have intensified, reports Loup Bureau, a journalist who spent four months in the Donbass trenches between 2017 and 2018.
According to the American think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which analyzes day-to-day developments on the front, “the Russian efforts around Bakhmout thus show that the (Moscow troops) have fundamentally failed to learn lessons” from other battles where they had lost a lot of forces.
For the ISW, the Russian obsession with Bakhmout even allowed the Ukrainians to carry out other successful offensives at other places on the front line where the concentration of troops was therefore less. “Russian efforts to advance on Bakhmut have resulted in continued attrition of Russian manpower and equipment, pinning troops around relatively insignificant localities for weeks and months,” the ISW analyzed.