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The Ukrainian military and Russia’s Wagner private army both reported further Russian retreats on the outskirts of Bakhmut on Thursday, as Kiev continued its biggest advance in six months ahead of a planned counter-offensive.
Ukrainian forces near the front line said Russia is bombarding access roads to slow down the attack on Ukraine, which has shifted momentum after months of Russian success in slowing down the deadliest land battle in Europe since World War II.
“Now, in general, because we have advanced, they have destroyed all the routes to the front positions, so our armored vehicles cannot deliver more infantry, ammunition and so on,” said Petro Podaru, a Ukrainian commander. artillery unit.
The Ukrainian military, which has been cautious so far in reporting gains in the area, said troops had advanced in the area by more than a kilometer. His forces had been on the defensive for a year and a half, experiencing a winter and a spring that was so heavy that Moscow made only slow gains.
“Although our units have no advantage in equipment … and personnel, they continue to advance on the flanks, and cover a distance of 150 to 1,700 meters,” military spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyi said in televised remarks.
Ukraine’s gains have been accompanied by a deepening public split in the Russian forces between Wagner, who had led the Bakhmut campaign, and the regular Russian military.
The blasted ruins of Bakhmut, described by both sides as a “meat grinder,” would be Moscow’s only prize for a major winter offensive that had failed elsewhere on the front.
Wagner fighters can be surrounded
Kyiv says it has launched a local advance around Bakhmut as a prelude to a major counteroffensive to come that it hopes will counter Russia’s 15-month-old offensive.
Drone footage released by Ukraine’s military aviation team this week showed residential areas of the city hit by intensive artillery fire. Reuters, which verified the location of the building, could not confirm the date the footage was taken.
Wagner’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said his forces in Bakhmut itself were still advancing, on the cusp of pushing Ukrainian forces out of their last strongholds in the built-up area on the western outskirts of the city.
But he accused the commanders of Russian regular forces of abandoning important positions north and south of the city, increasing the risk of forces inside being surrounded. Starting last week, Prigozhin published a daily message blaming the regular military brass.
“Unfortunately, Russian Defense Ministry units retreated to 570 meters north of Bakhmut, exposing our side,” Prigozhin said in his latest voice message on Thursday.
“I am appealing to the top leadership of the Ministry of Defense – in general – because my letter was not read,” said Prigozhin, speaking to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
“Please don’t give up the sides.”
Russia denied the crumbling troops
Russia’s Defense Ministry has acknowledged some withdrawals from positions near Bakhmut over the past week but denied Prigozhin’s claims that the flanks collapsed or did not hold ammunition from Wagner.
Ukraine says the tactics around Bakhmut are deliberately drawing Russian forces into the city so they can damage Russian front-line defenses elsewhere ahead of a planned Kyiv counterattack.
“Wagner’s army went up to Bakhmut like rats to a mousetrap,” Oleksander Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, told troops in front of Bakhmut in a video released this week on social media.
“Using the principle of active defense, we used counteroffensive actions in several directions near Bakhmut. The enemy had more resources, but we destroyed their plans.”
More attacks in Kyiv
With the Kyiv counteroffensive, Russia has resumed missile and drone strikes across Ukraine this month after nearly two months. Attack waves now come several times a week, the fastest in the war.
As recently as Thursday, air raid sirens sounded across much of the country overnight, black smoke filled the sky in Kyiv and one person was killed in the southern city of Odesa. Ukraine said it had shot down 29 of the 30 incoming missiles. Moscow claims it has struck a military target.
Russia has also experienced attacks and explosions in Ukrainian-controlled areas and in Russian areas near the border. Officials in Russian-controlled Crimea reported that a freight train had been derailed overnight due to a “disturbance”. Kyiv has never confirmed any role in what happened there.
On the diplomatic front, leaders of the G7 group of major developed countries are meeting in Japan where they will unveil tougher measures to close Russia’s chances of bypassing financial sanctions.
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