Ukraine changes its strategy on Bakhmut

[Rusia teme un asalto anfibio de Ucrania en Crimea: cava trincheras y llena sus playas de minas]

But it is in the rear of this combat front that the real strategy is being drawn up with which, from Kiev, they hope to stop the Russian offensive in Donbas: they are delaying and multiplying the defensive positions to achieve a “layered defense” around Siversk, Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and other cities in the region.

The Ukrainian president assures that withdraw from Bakhmut –devoured by bombardments– is to leave “the road open” for the Kremlin troops to occupy the entire province. But the situation is critical, and if Zelensky’s soldiers do not withdraw in time, they could be trapped inside the city, like the Mariupol fighters in Azovstal.

Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group control the eastern half of the disputed city, while Putin’s airborne and mechanized units surround it to try to pocket the Ukrainians. And they have already managed to advance north, east and south, in such a way that there is only one road left to access Bakhmut –the one that crosses through the also devastated city of Chasiv Yar–.

Alongside the Ukrainian artillery and infantry, special operations units – snipers and intelligence groups – are also working tirelessly to prevent the advance of the Russian columns. The sound of cannons and howitzers, which does not stop day or night, completes the warlike landscape that a city once used as a spa for its tranquility and beauty has become.

A formula for success

As the two armies collide head-on, the “layered defense” is taking shape behind the front line. It is not a new strategy. Last year it was already used –successfully– to defend enclaves such as Kiev or Kharkov, and it consists of drawing several parallel defensive lines so that the enemy, in case of crossing one, finds another that stops him. And so on.

In order to get this defensive reinforcement ready before Bakhmut falls – something that could happen in a matter of days, given the situation – both civilian operators and military personnel are busy digging and preparing hundreds of kilometers of new trenches around the rest of the northern cities of Donetsk.

[Agotados y diezmados: Rusia acaricia la conquista de Bakhmut pero teme lo que sufrirá por las bajas]

They use bulldozers and other machinery and, in addition to removing the earth – which they deposit in dunes around the maze of trenches – they also place huge concrete blocks to prevent enemy mechanized forces from passing by road. The closer to the front lines, the more bulldozers, dunes and concrete blocks you find.

On one of these roads, near the city of Siversk, one of the public operators who works placing the blocks assures that they still have a long way to go, but that they are going at a good pace. The man’s name is Valdimir and he used to be in charge of the water channeling works in Sloviansk. But with the Russian army on his doorstep, priorities have changed.

The inhabitants of northern Donetsk – the last stronghold of Donbas controlled by Ukraine – know that they stand to lose everything if their army does not stop the advance of the Kremlin troops. Because Every city that Russian artillery approaches ends up being turned into hell on earth..

Frontline Path

The new network of trenches around Bakhmut, which are currently empty, will be occupied by thousands of troops before spring. Soldiers who arrive together with the artillery pieces, and also infantry who will have to fight with light weapons.

But for now, all reinforcements are going directly to the front line. Despite the fact that many of them had no military experience before the invasion began in February last year. Others, on the other hand, they had already fought in Donbas, where the war began in 2014. But both are aware of the situation and also of the enormous number of casualties that occurs every day.

The fact that this war is told almost live through social networks such as Telegram or TikTok, where videos and photos are posted at all hours, has made Ukrainian soldiers are probably the best informed soldiers in the middle of a war of all times.

I share a bus ride, from the Vuhledar combat front to the Bakhmut front, with some of the soldiers who are going to fight there. They say that the fact that the Kiev government is mobilizing hundreds of troops to fight for this city is one of the most recurring topics of conversation in all the country’s trenches.

During the journey, they look at the situation plans and the latest publications on how the fighting is progressing in the area where they are going to deploy on their mobile phones. It is impossible to guess how many months – or years – each of them has been fighting. The invasion has been a crash course in warfare for everyone.

Anatoly, who sits next to me, looks like a tough and experienced soldier. He is about 40 years old, he is tall and strong, and it seems that he has worn the military uniform all his life. However, he tells me that he is a cabinetmaker and that he had a prosperous business in kyiv. Today, instead of holding the tools with which he shaped the wood, in his hands he carries a rifle. Bakhmut road.