And while a Ukrainian military official believes that his country is moving from defense to attack on the eastern and southern fronts, and it has an opportunity to exploit Moscow’s differences with the “Wagner” armed group, a Russian military analyst downplays the importance of the Ukrainian attack, and lists reasons why he sees it as a “false victory”, during Their interview with Sky News Arabia.
A Ukrainian military source spoke to our website about “the forces’ success in opening a corridor to secure supplies of ammunition.”
New goals
“The equation changes every hour,” as Svyatoslav Podolak, the Ukrainian military official in the Donbass front, described, stressing that there are objectives of Kiev’s counterattack, which began Sunday on the eastern axis, so that it does not focus on defense only, including:
• Targeting all “Wagner” headquarters and concentrations in the center of Bakhmut.
• The use of artillery firepower along the fronts.
• Using drones to target the lines of the Russian forces.
• Breaking the siege on the city and opening passages for evacuating and receiving ammunition.
In addition, Podolak continues, the southern front began an intense bombardment of the Russian forces, and about 60 shells were fired at 6 towns located on the left bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Province.
Ukrainian chance
The Ukrainian military official is excited to take advantage of the field conditions that he sees in favor of Kiev, in light of a sharp Russian division between the fighters of the “Wagner” group and the Russian forces, saying: “This is what we are working on, as the Wagner forces suffer from a shortage of weapons, which makes them in a weak defensive position that allows us to advance.” And to prevent the Russian advance towards the city center.
Podolak believes that the decision to defend Bakhmut forces the Russian army to get involved in a costly and bloody war, especially since the city “has a strategic dimension from this angle in particular, which is Russian attrition.”
And between the Russian army and “Wagner”, which specializes in training and supplying mercenaries, there are differences over fighting tactics, and determining who is attributed to the “victories” on the Russian side.
With the start of a counterattack towards Bakhmut, the Ukrainian army announced that the death toll of Russian soldiers had risen since the beginning of the war a year ago, to 164,910 soldiers, and the destruction of 5,332 tanks, 6,853 armored combat vehicles, 2,568 artillery systems, and 507 multiple-launch rocket launcher systems. And 268 air defense systems.
“desperate attempt”
The sudden Ukrainian attack in the east was met with heavy Russian bombardment, as more than 50 towns in the east and south of the country were bombed during the past 24 hours.
According to Russian military analyst Alexander Artmatov, Kiev’s attempt at Bakhmut is “desperate and has not military but media goals,” as it coincides with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to discuss a Chinese solution to stop the war.
Artamatov concludes his assessment by saying:
• Kiev is seeking to obtain a “fake victory” to prove that it is able to be present on the ground before any negotiations, and “this is not true at all”. The attack in Bakhmut is not what Kiev is trying to portray.
• According to the equation of battles, Moscow controls about 60 percent of the city of Bakhmut, and it is difficult to resolve the battles in favor of Kiev, which is already suffering from a shortage of armaments, as evidenced by their continuous statements about the need for new weapons.
The battle of Bakhmut is the longest battle since the start of the war on February 24, 2022, and it has acquired a symbolic character for Kiev and Moscow, as both sides focus on that region to control the eastern front, amid thousands of deaths and injuries on both sides.
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