Russia Continues Advance on Bakhmut Despite Stout Ukrainian Resistance

Bloody clashes in the city of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukrainecontinue with the gradual advance of the russian forces to the west that threatens to cut off the last supply lines of the Ukrainians, while they offer a stubborn resistance to the invaders.

“On the Donetsk front, assault detachments liberated two blocks in the west of the city of Artiomovsk (Russian name for Bakhmut)”said today the spokesman of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov, in his daily report on the progress of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine.

Russian advances in Bakhmut

The soldier, who has reported in the last two weeks about the seizure of seventeen blocks in the city, indicated that the actions of the Wagner Russian mercenary group are supported on the flanks by units of the Airborne Forces and the South Group, which frustrated the attempted Ukrainian counterattacks.

“Strikes by tactical and combat aviation and artillery fire from the ‘South’ group caused damage to enemy units in the towns of Girorivka and Kalinin of the Donetsk region”he added.

The US Institute for War Studies (ISW) confirmed the advance of Russian forces “around Bakhmut”although he stressed that “they have not completed a turning movement around the city” that he would seek to close the siege and leave the Ukrainian forces without provisions and supplies.

For its part, the General Staff of Ukraine reported that Russian forces carried out unsuccessful offensive operations near Hryhorivka (9 kilometers to the northwest), Bohdanivka (6 kilometers to the northwest), Khromove and Ivanivske (6 kilometers to the west).

stubborn Ukrainian resistance

According to soldiers from the 24th Brigade of the Ukrainian Army interviewed by the UNIAN agency, “Russians destroy everything in Bakhmut.”

A motorized forces sergeant with the ID Cerber called the situation “complex but under control”noting that the Russians use all kinds of weapons, including artillery and even chemical weapons, in order to drive the Ukrainians out of their positions.

“Once we were victims of an attack like this. Immediately the desire to vomit arises and one’s eyes water. We had not seen this type of projectile before.”affirmed another Ukrainian soldier, a specialist in handling drones.

The Ukrainian military also referred to the intensity of the fighting north of Bakhmut, from where the Russians could try to advance towards Sloviansk, one of the main Ukrainian strongholds in the east of the country.

“Thing was hot! Ours began an assault and we forced them (the enemy) to dig in.”a soldier from the 30th Motorized Brigade alias Bosoi (Barefoot) told Ukrainian television.

The Russians, for their part, do not seem to be in a hurry: Wanger’s boss, Yevgueni Prigozhin, ruled out that the Russian command had set Victory Day over Nazi Germany as the date for the capture of Bakhmut.

“We do not intend to give anyone gifts for May 9, we are not superstitious”he indicated on his Telegram channel.

No peace negotiations in sight

However, the Ukrainians do not seem ready to give up and reject any attempt to start peace talks.

“At times when the offensive of Russia in the east of Ukraine the intensity decreases and the media debates the possible military actions of Ukraine, in the world there are more voices calling for peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”warned the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, in an article to Die Welt.

According to the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, those who promote the negotiations “they ignore the fact that Russia has shown no real interest in honest negotiations or a ceasefire” and in fact “does not want to participate in negotiations on the end of the aggression and the restoration of peace.”

For his part, the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (SNBO), Oleksiy Danilov, lashed out on Facebook against the “pro-Russian peacekeepers who, discarding the sovereignty of our State, propose to sit down at the table of negotiations with Russia.”

“Don’t push us all in time to the negotiating table, give us weapons. Weapons will be the best mediator and the only argument for a dialogue that Russia will understand.”he wrote on the social network.

Ukraine defends President Volodimir Zelensky’s peace plan, which conditions negotiations on the withdrawal of Russian troops and the cessation of hostilities, and rejects China’s proposal, stating that it does not distinguish between the aggressor and the victim.

However, more and more voices are calling on Moscow and kyiv to seek political solutions to the present conflict.

Source: EFE