Ukraine is throwing everything into the meat grinder that is Bakhmut. And Western media, seems to be taking notice. If Ukraine retreats, then Russia breaks one of the last lines of defense in the Donbass. After Bakhmut there is Kramatorsk and Slavyansk, and once those fall, it is free and easy driving all the way to the Dniepr. However, the only way Ukraine can hold Bakhmut is by sacrificing thousands of troops, indefinitely, on a regular basis. Either Ukraine retreats to the last line of defense, or it keeps losing thousands of soldiers every week. It is still not evident that Russia is interested in anything other than continuing to chew through the human strength of the Ukrainian military.
No one who is actually paying attention thinks that Bakhmut is the last line of defense in this area. Russia Mil-bloggers said the same thing about Severodonetsk months and months ago and look where we are today. Also - for those paying close attention - Bakhmut has a river going through it and Ukraine controls the high ground on the other side of the river - so it's not like the town is just going to fall immediately anyways even if Russia actually even makes it to the river, which they have yet to do, ever in MONTHS of fighting. And all reports are Russia is losing just as many if not more troops there every single day - of course they have the advantage of more meat for the grinder ultimately. Finally - and this is big - there is a huge contact line between Russia and Ukraine. The idea that the whole Ukrainian line falters because of BAKHMUT is hilarious. Ukraine could lose Bakhmut and still advance in other areas, especially around svatove and kreminna which will ultimately allow them to cut off the main Russian rail line supporting most of the region. And that says nothing about zaporizhzhia or over by Kherson.
Ukraine doesn't have to cut the Belgorod-Luhansk rail line at Starobilsk. Urazovo is closer. Ukraine Invasion Day 290: Weather is weather, dirt is dirt. Timely articles kind of making my point above - much bigger fish to fry on the contact line than Bakhmut.
There is a huge concentration of Russian forces there - led by some of the best trained Russian troops in theatre. The Ukrainians have essentially held them in one place for several months. I don't see how that is a bad thing for them, or a good thing for Russia.
The reason Russia is there is because there are so many Ukrainians to kill there. Again, Russia is less interested in seizing territory than it is killing every Ukrainian troop that moves. If you kill everyone in a particular territory ... it’s easy to assume the territory.
You keep saying this like if you say it enough it is true. The front line of the war right now is like 1300 KM long are something like that. This is a battle at ONE PLACE. There are active battles in several places along the line of contact. It's just amusing that you choose to ignore those because at best Russia is holding ground, and at worse, actively losing ground. Also if Russia was disinterested in holding terrain - why are they assaulting Ukrainian positions with troops in Bakhmut? Their losses have been insane there - why keep throwing men into the meat grinder if they don't care about terrain? You could accomplish the same thing just bombing the hell out of them and inviting them to attack you.
Russia is just lulling them into a false sense of security... Just waiting for them to set up hammocks and start drinking mai tai's on the front lines because fighting off the Russians has become so easy. Then the Russian army will come alive and stop acting like bumbling idiots.
Ukro shills: We must hold Bakhmut at all costs! Also Ukro shills: Bakhmut has no strategic value whatsoever
Nothing sneaky about what Russia is doing. As Clausewitz said: “Destroying armies, rather than capturing cities, is the quickest way to victory.”
For the six or seventh time, because Ukraine is massing troops there. There are more troops to kill in Bakhmut.
In the last thirty days, Ukraine has lost the equivalent of 6 to 7 NATO brigades. Germany has a total of 8 brigades. Why wouldn’t Russia hang out there when their primary aim is destroying the Ukrainian (plus mercenaries) army ?
There is no secret, according to Wagner’s Prigozhin himself ... “Our task is not Bakhmut itself, but the destruction of the Ukrainian army and the reduction of its combat potential, which has an extremely positive effect on other areas, which is why this operation was dubbed the 'Bakhmut meat grinder'.”
and russia has lost just as much. So I guess we should send Ukraine a thank you card for demilitarizing russua.
Utter nonsense. Western media is infected with twin tropes: (1) Bakhmut unimportant (2) Russia attacking Ukrainian defenses in human waves. Western media are overwhelmingly cooperative propagandized simps.
Exactly. Ukraine has already been requested to reduce its fire rate of artillery shells so the U.S. can keep up with supplying them. Having the enemy concentrated in a small area makes the artillery fire that much more effective. Like shooting fish in a barrel.
So weird that you can seemingly use periods correctly but can’t mark a question to save your life. What’s that about ?
