The head of the Wagner Special Military Group had asked to provide his forces with more ammunition and said that his assistant was prevented from entering the army’s operations headquarters, in the latest indication of a dispute between the Russian army and the military group, which is leading the attack on Bakhmut.
Russia is trying to encircle Bakhmut to secure its first major victory in more than half a year, at the height of a winter offensive that has turned into the bloodiest battle of the war.
The bloody fighting depleted the artillery reserves of both sides, with thousands of shells being fired daily along the eastern and southern fronts.
Kiev’s European allies are working on a deal to get more ammunition for Ukraine to use in the fighting.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to the Middle East, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he could not predict when or the possibility of the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city of Bakhmut, but its fall “would not necessarily mean that the Russians changed the course of this battle.”
“I think it has more symbolic value than strategic and operational value,” Austin said.
Moscow says capturing the city would be a step towards its main goal of seizing all of the surrounding Donbass region.
Kiev says that the losses that Russia will incur as a result of its attempt to seize the city may determine the future course of the war by destroying its combat forces before the decisive battles that will rage later this year.
Volodymyr Nazarenko, one of the Ukrainian commanders stationed in Bakhmut, said that no withdrawal orders had been issued and that “the defense is holding out” under difficult conditions.
“The situation in and around Bakhmut is exactly like hell, as is the case on the entire eastern front,” Nazarenko added in a video clip on the Telegram app.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said he discussed the situation in Bakhmut with the chief of the General Staff and the commander of the ground forces, who “favored the continuation of the defensive operation and the strengthening of positions in Bakhmut.”
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