Zelensky vows not to retreat from Bakhmut as Russian forces look to make first ... trends now
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed not to retreat from Bakhmut as Russian forces encroached on the devastated eastern city they have sought to capture for six months at the cost of thousands of lives.
Less than a week ago, an adviser to Mr Zelensky said the defenders might retreat from Bakhmut and fall back to nearby positions.
But Mr Zelensky on Monday chaired a meeting in which top military brass 'spoke in favour of continuing the defence operation and further strengthening our positions in Bakhmut', his office said.
Later, in his nightly video address, the president said his advisers unanimously agreed to press on with the fight, 'not to retreat' and to bolster Ukrainian defences.
Mr Zelensky's top adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said no decision has been made to retreat because of 'a consensus among the military about the need to continue defending the city' and grinding down enemy forces 'while building new lines of defence'.
A Ukrainian serviceman sits in a tank at the frontline near Bakhmut
A Ukrainian serviceman carries a shell for a 2S5 Giatsint-S self-propelled howitzer before firing towards Russian troops outside the frontline town of Bakhmut
Fighting around Bakhmut for six months with both sides taking significant losses
By pressing the defence, Ukraine has exhausted Russia's main combat-ready groups and trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian military personnel for a possible counteroffensive, he said.
Intense Russian shelling targeted the city in the Donetsk region and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off Bakhmut's resistance.
The nearby towns of Chasiv Yar and Kostiantynivka came under heavy shelling, damaging cars and homes and sparking a fire. No casualties were immediately reported.
Police and volunteers evacuated people from Chasiv Yar and other frontline towns in an operation made difficult by the loss of bridges and constant artillery fire which has left barely a house standing.
Russian forces have been unable to deliver a knockout blow that would allow them to seize Bakhmut. Analysts say it does not hold major strategic value and its capture would be unlikely to serve as a turning point in the conflict.
The Russian push for Bakhmut reflects the Kremlin's broader struggle to achieve battlefield momentum. Moscow's full-scale invasion on February 24 2022 soon stalled and Ukraine launched a largely successful counteroffensive.
Over the bitterly cold winter months, the fighting has largely been deadlocked.
The city's importance has become mostly symbolic.
For Russian President Vladimir Putin, prevailing there would finally deliver some good news from the front.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has refused to surrender the city
For Kyiv, the display of grit and defiance reinforces a message that Ukraine is holding on after a year of brutal attacks, justifying continued support from its western allies.
US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin endorsed that view on Monday, saying during a visit to Jordan that Bakhmut has 'more of a symbolic value than ... strategic and operational value'.
Moscow, he added, continues 'to pour in a lot of ill-trained and ill-equipped troops' into Bakhmut, while Ukraine patiently builds 'combat power' elsewhere with western military support ahead of a possible spring offensive.
Even so, some analysts question the wisdom of ordering Ukrainian defenders to hold out much longer. Others suggest a tactical withdrawal may already be underway.
Michael Kofman, the director of Russia studies at the Can think tank in Arlington, Virginia, said Ukraine's defence of Bakhmut has been effective because it has drained the Russian war effort, but that Kyiv should now look ahead.
'The tenacious defence of Bakhmut achieved a great deal, expending Russian manpower and ammunition,' Mr Kofman tweeted late on Sunday. 'But strategies can reach points of diminishing returns, and given Ukraine is trying to husband resources for an offensive, it could impede the success of a more important operation.'
The Institute for the Study of
