According to Han Bouwmeester, professor of military operational sciences at the Dutch Defense Academy, Ukraine has only one goal. “They’re forcing the Russians to keep fighting with this,” he says. “We still see hundreds of Russians killed there every day. It’s a huge usury, they’re really trying to hurt Russia this way.’
Few days
Ukraine is trying to hold on as long as possible with extra soldiers. “And that costs Russia a lot of frontline soldiers.” According to Bouwmeester, also a brigadier general in the Dutch army since yesterday, Ukraine can continue like this for a few more days. “Then they’ll start retreating west of the city. That is a hilly area from which you can enjoy a good view of the city».
“We see that hundreds of Russians are still being killed there every day”
Booby traps
Bachmut was bombed almost completely flat, Ukrainian soldiers will try to make life difficult for the Russians from the hills. “They’ll have to maneuver very carefully,” thinks Bouwmeester.
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“You do it anyway when you move to a city, even if it’s deserted. But they can face ambushes and traps, known as booby traps. Then you open a door and then another hand grenade or mine explodes with a rope. Those are risky things.”