Ukrainian forces say that they’re continuing to advance on the northern and southern flanks of the city of Bakmut in an attempt to encircle and trap the Russian troops inside just days after Moscow claimed to have finally captured it through eight months of grinding warfare, and the developments are now giving both sides reasons to claim that momentum is in their favour in a landscape.
Ukraine’s President Zielinski has recently compared the atomic bombing of Hiroshima to this video released by Russia’s Wagner mercenary group over the weekend, claiming to show its forces raising their flags in the rubble.
Reuters was able to verify the drone views, but not when they were filmed. Ed Arnold is with the Royal United Services Institute think tank in London, and it looks like backwards is still contested.
But ultimately speaking, you need to see the battle in a wider context: the Russians have pushed everything they had at it since August, and they’ve only just sort of captured the town, but equally, when you look at the eventually, I mean, there’s nothing left in the town; it’s a very insignificant point on the broader map and Actually, what’s really been all about is trying to fix each force so that they can’t fight in other places.
Within Ukraine The issue now is that the Russians will just find themselves in an area that they might not even be able to stay in the long term because the infrastructure does not exist, so the ability to keep the city in their hands and then continue further west is going to be very difficult.
Meanwhile, in another mocking public statement against Russia’s regular military establishment, the Wagner Group’s head, Jenny Pagosian, has repeated his vow to pull his mercenaries out of the city starting on May 25th, handing over control to government forces.
He’s accusing the military of abandoning the flanks even as his mercenaries advanced, which the defence The Ministry denies that the coming weeks will show just how much the massive losses of life in Bakmut have impacted the wider In terms of taking back what’s left.
You know, control is not military, it’s political, so we shouldn’t control the area they have in terms of they see that they are forces on the ground in terms of them turning that into some form of political control and you’re reinvesting in infrastructure.
Actually making back what a bit of a hub, it’s going to be very difficult, and the issue now is that the Russians will just find themselves in an area, that they might not even be able to stay in the long term. Because the infrastructure does not exist, so keep the city in their hands and then continue further west, it’s going to be very difficult.
President Putin is publicly confirmed and sort of thanks Devgeny Pagosian and Wagner for the offensive potential, so to take them out so soon after would be a very curious move, but like I said in their previous answer, there is nothing there with military value anymore, so Wagner might redeploy to two other areas now that they’ve sort of got that tick in the box.
Thank you, Hibachi, for rebuilding Ukraine’s Air Force. is much more about longer-term defence and deterrence, which is going to be absolutely critical as support to current operations at the moment, and partly that is having an Air Force, which Russia looks at and goes, “Um, actually, we might not try offensive operations again on the assumption that there’s some kind of military resolution of the current war in the next couple of years.”
