Russia’s offensive on the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut “has largely stalled” as a result of the “extreme attrition” of the Russian forces and the tensions that have occurred with the wagner groupreports the British Government.
“Russia’s assault on the Donbas city of Bakhmut has largely stalled. This is probably a result, first of all, of the extreme attrition of Russian forces. Ukraine has also suffered heavy losses during its defence,” the ministry said. British Defense Department in its daily war part.
For this reason, Moscow has decided to change its “operational focus” towards Avdiivkasouth of Bakhmut, already Kremina-Svatovein the north, which are “areas where Russia only aspires to stabilize the front”, according to the note collected by efe.
[La feroz resistencia de los ucranianos en Bakhmut deja a Rusia agotada para continuar su ofensiva]
In an interview yesterday with radio freedomthe head of the military administration of the city of Avdiivka, Vitaliy Barabash, assured that the situation there is increasingly resembling that in Bakhmut, the epicenter of the fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
All this, London insists, indicates a “general return to a more defensive operational design” by the Russian side, forced by the “inconclusive results” of its attempts to launch a general offensive from January 2023.
pressure at the front
Russian forces attacked several points north and south of the front in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region on Friday. Ukrainian military reports described heavy fighting along a line running from Lyman to Kupianskas well as in the south in Avdiivka.
Both areas have been important targets for the Russian winter campaign to capture by complete the industrialized Ukrainian region of Donbas. So far, the offensive has made little progress, despite the deaths of thousands of soldiers on both sides in the bloodiest fighting of the war.
“Luckily, we maintain the same position,” a soldier told Reuters. “Because we are facing a very strong enemy with very good weapons. And it is a professional army: airborne troops,” he said.
On March 24, 2022 ?? rocketeers drove the first nail into the coffin of the russian Black Sea fleet, sinking 1 & damaging 2 dock landing ships in Berdyansk.
The number of diving attractions has been growing since then. pic.twitter.com/hqnIqwanDH— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 24, 2023
The front lines have hardly moved since November, despite heavy fighting. Ukraine recaptured swathes of territory in the second half of 2022 but has since remained mainly on the defensive, while Russia has attacked positions defended by Zelensky with hundreds of thousands of reservists.
As winter turns to spring, the main issue in Ukraine is how much longer can Russia maintain its offensive.
At a meeting in Ottawa on Friday, the President of the United States, Joe Bidenand the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeaureaffirmed their “firm support for the Ukrainian people in their defense against Putin’s brutal and barbaric invasion.”
