‘Bakhmut Has Fallen!’– Russian Forces on the Brink of Capturing Strategic Donbas City – Ukrainians Control Half a Square Mile – Last Stronghold Under Heavy Attack

May. 20, 2023

Roughly two months ago, I published here on TGP a piece about how Ukrainian troops were put in an operational encirclement by the Russians in the Donbas city of Bakhmut/Artemovsk.

Since then, many thousands of soldiers on both sides have lost their lives in what has been widely considered one of the toughest battles since the Second World War – the ‘meat grinder’, the ‘vortex’.

“Artyomovsk (Russian name) is an important city in the Donbas, the Russian-speaking region comprised of the Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts (states). The defense of the ethnic Russians in this region was one of the primary objectives of Putin in his Special Military Operation, so the capture of this key regional logistics and transport hub is crucial to the Russian plans of liberating the areas of Donetsk Oblast still under Kiev’s control.

While US and UK officials have, as of late, tried to downplay the strategic importance of Bakhmut (Ukrainian name), deeming it to be merely ‘symbolic’, Ukrainian president Zelensky stated that a loss in Bakhmut would mean an open road for Russian forced to attack other important cities in Eastern Ukraine.

As for the symbolic value of Bakhmut, Zelensky called it the ‘the fortress of our morale’, so it’s understandable that he and his Generals may have chosen to defend it to the end, rather than retreat their overwhelmed troops while they still could. But ‘the end’ appears to be nearing.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/05/bakhmut-has-fallen-russian-forces-brink-capturing-strategic/