According to the command of the Ukrainian army, well-trained soldiers of the Wagner group are busy breaking through the defense line around the city. “If Bachmoet is surrounded, then as a Ukraine you will remove your soldiers and not continue fighting,” says De Kruif.
Injury
According to De Kruif, the fact that Ukraine is still fighting and has not yet retreated has to do with the fact that Ukraine wants to inflict as much damage on the Russian military as possible. “In the long run, every Russian who dies can no longer be deployed elsewhere,” says the former commander. “I understand that they fight as long as possible, but there comes a time when encirclement threatens and then you have to take your soldiers away.”
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In light of this, it seems likely that Bachmut will fall into Russian hands within days. ‘However, the military significance of this is not that great, says De Kruif. “For Russians it is mainly a symbolic meaning. This shows that they can still defeat parts of the Ukrainian army and take a city.’
Symbolically, the Russians win this battle, but from a military point of view this battle has little impact, according to De Kruif. At the moment there are still several thousand Ukrainian soldiers in Bachmut.