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KYIV, Ukraine – Ukrainian forces have destroyed Russian positions outside the eastern city of Bakhmut and forced Russian units back from key positions near a canal, military commanders on both sides said, in the first gains since March for Kyiv forces in brutal. fight for the city.
The advance is not large – about three square miles, southwest of the city, in an area of fields, ravines and bushes – but it was recognized on Tuesday by Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner militia whose forces have been at the front of the Russian battle for Bakhmut, and explained on Wednesday by several Ukrainian military officials. Russia’s Defense Ministry did not comment on the report.
Ukrainian forces have not won anything in the battle for Bakhmut since pushing Russian forces from the key access road two months ago, and it is far from clear that they can hold the terrain they took this week or that it is a turning point.
But the 11-month war for Bakhmut has taken on a symbolic significance that goes far beyond the direct strategic value of the city and has come at a human cost and has had a devastating impact on both sides. Both countries have invested resources and sacrificed soldiers in a high-stakes effort to wear each other down, with Russian forces slowly gaining control of most of the city and its surroundings.
The fresh fighting comes amid Ukrainian offensives behind Russian lines and reports of increased attacks in Russian areas bordering Ukraine, ahead of a major counteroffensive that Kyiv says will begin soon. Ukrainian military officers said the advance near Bakhmut was an opportunistic attack as Russian Army troops moved into position, one indication that it was not part of a wider push to retake Russian-held territory.
General Oleksandr Syrsky, commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, said in a statement that the Bakhmut attack was part of a “defensive operation” aimed at stalling the Russian attack on the city.
Ukrainian commanders of the three units involved in the fighting gave details of the operation in an interview – the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, a special forces unit; Adam Tactical Group; and the Ukrainian Volunteer Army, which consists of civilian volunteers.
Andriy Biletsky, who has the main command of Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, among other units, said in a video statement released early Wednesday that his forces had captured Russian positions and inflicted heavy losses on Russian forces. Two Russian companies, units usually with 100 soldiers each, and a reconnaissance team were “completely destroyed” in the fighting, said Mr. Biletsky, a former far-right politician and co-founder of the Azov Brigade.
Mr. Prigozhin, who is known for his outspoken criticism and frequent denigration of the Russian military, said in a video on Tuesday that the Russian wing had been damaged.
“Today they are tearing up the flanks in the direction of Artemovsk,” he said, using the Russian name for Bakhmut. He says that his forces will continue to fight in Bakhmut for now, although he threatens to pull Wagner’s mercenaries out of Bakhmut if they don’t get support from the Russian Army.
“We will continue to push for a few more days,” he said. “Let’s fight.”
Mr. Prigozhin predicted, as did others, that the main Ukrainian counterattack would come in the Zaporizhzhia region, about 100 miles southwest of Bakhmut. The Ukrainian military has been regrouping to prepare for an attack, training troops to use newly delivered Western weapons and forming new units.
The Biden administration on Tuesday announced $1.2 billion in new military aid to Ukraine, including artillery munitions and air defense missiles, bringing the U.S. total since Russia invaded last year to about $37 billion.
The United States took another step on Wednesday, when the Justice Department said it had transferred millions of dollars seized from Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev to be used to rebuild Ukraine. This is the first action of its kind under legislation passed last year. Mr. Malofeyev was a major supporter of the war, and his assets were seized for violating economic sanctions.
Increasingly isolated from the West, Russia has tried to strengthen international relations where possible, including with the nation of Georgia, a former Soviet republic in the Caucasus that had a brief war with Russia in 2008. On Wednesday, President Vladimir V. Putin ordered. the restoration of direct flights from Russia to Georgia since Friday, and the elimination of visa requirements for Georgian citizens to visit Russia, the latest sign of continued rapprochement.
But Russia’s war effort continues to be hampered by internal conflicts between Mr. Prigozhin and the regular military. In recent days, he has recorded graphic and expletive-laden videos accusing senior Russian generals of denying his troops much-needed supplies, such as ammunition. On Tuesday, he appeared more offensive, releasing a video that some observers interpreted as a direct criticism of Mr. Putin.
Ukrainian weapons are “killing our soldiers, while happy grandfathers think everything will be fine for them,” Mr. Prigozhin said in the video. Mr Putin’s opponents usually refer to him as “grandfather”.
On Wednesday, Mr Prigozhin said the “grandfather” was referring to an unnamed senior Russian military official. Mr Prigozhin, a tycoon who made his fortune partly through Kremlin catering contracts, has avoided direct criticism of Mr Putin.
Mr. Prigozhin accused units of the Russian Army’s 72nd Brigade of abandoning their positions near Bakhmut. “Everyone ran and opened a front that was almost two kilometers wide and 500 meters deep,” he said.
He added that his troops had to go in to stop the Ukrainian advance. “It’s good we managed to block it somehow,” he said.
Video recorded by a drone and sent to The New York Times by the commander of the Adam Tactical Group appears to show Russian soldiers walking around in a tangle, apparently after an artillery attack on their position at the tree line. Amidst mud, shell craters and crushed trees, it shows soldiers running from burning bunkers, one with his uniform set on fire.
Another video, recorded from a soldier’s body camera and released by the 3rd Assault Brigade, which said it came from a combat scene, showed a unit walking through a shallow ravine, passing dead Russian soldiers.
None of the videos can be independently verified.
Colonel Yevhen Mezhevikin, the commander of the Adam Tactical Group, said in a recent interview that the role of the fighting forces in Bakhmut was to stop the Russian advance while the new brigade was being trained and assembled to carry out the expected counterattack. He also said that he felt that the Russian Army was demoralized and thin in places along the front line, leaving it vulnerable.
A mid-level commander in the 3rd Assault Brigade who asked to be identified by his nickname, Zayan, in line with Ukrainian military rules, said of what would happen in the Bakhmut battle: “Anything is possible.”
Carlotta Gall reported from Kiev, Ukraine, Anatoly Kurmanaev from Berlin and Tracy Carl from New York. Maria Varenikova contributed reports from Kyiv, Ivan Nechepurenko from Tblisi, Georgia, and Charlie Savage from Washington.
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