Posted on 03/25/2023 1:20:41 AM PDT by Cronos
The initial upper hand gained by the Russian forces in Bakhmut, the Ukrainian city which Moscow has spent months trying to capture, seems to have fizzled out as Kyiv’s counteroffensive has been successful in stalling the advances made by Kremlin.
On Friday, Ukraine's commander in chief Lt Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi said in a Facebook post that the situation in the eastern city is “stabilising”.
Acknowledging that the situation on Ukraine's frontlines "is the toughest in the Bakhmut direction”, Lt Gen Zaluzhnyi said that due to the “tremendous efforts” of the Ukrainian forces “we are managing to stabilise the situation".
He posted on the social media network after briefing the UK's Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, about the situation in Ukraine.
In recent months, the eastern city has become the centre of the biggest battle between Russia and Ukraine. For Moscow, Bakhmut is a key target in its plans to fully capture the industrialised eastern region of Donbas.
However, the long-drawn-out war yielded little results for the Russian offensive despite losing thousands of troops.
On Thursday, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, claimed that Russian forces were "exhausted" near Bakhmut, reports BBC.
He added that Russia is “losing significant strength", though it "has not given up hope of taking Bakhmut at all costs despite losses in manpower and equipment”.
"Very soon we will take advantage of this opportunity, like we did near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliya and Kupiansk," he was quoted as saying, referring to successful Ukrainian counter-offensives last year.
However, despite Ukraine’s assertion that Moscow’s attack was flagging near Bakhmut, the Russian forces launched new assaults in the northern and southern stretches of the front in the Donbas region.
Heavy fighting was reported in the northern sector along a stretch of front running from Lyman to Kupiansk as well as in the south at Avdiivka on the outskirts of the Russian-held city of Donetsk.
(With inputs from agencies)
For those who want to scream, “Western propaganda!” On March 4, WION published “Why Ukraine is losing Bakhmut.”
Does anyone have an accurate assessment of what is really going on?
Colonel McGregor was on a podcast last night saying the Russians had control and Ukrainians were fleeing,
MacGregor was Wesley Clark’s #2 in the war on Serbia and both of them tried to start WW3 at the Pristina airport in Kosovo. Funny how Macgregor conveniently forgets to tell everyone that he was Clark’s top war planner in Serbia and both were fired like dogs.
Clark was terrible.... the worst....
I’ve been listening to McGregor since day one.
On day one, he said that there should be a negotiated agreement to avoid war, because in the end, after months of fighting, thousands killed on both sides, the end will be predictable. Russian will retain Crimea, and gain the Eastern regions of Ukraine.
I think this is accurate.
I don’t see Russia ever surrendering.
Macgregor the clown has been wrong on everything since the beginning:
“If they don’t surrender in the next 24 hours, I suspect Russia will ultimately annihilate them.”
Speaking to Fox News three days after the Ukraine invasion began, Macgregor suggested that the conflict was already nearing an end:
The battle in eastern Ukraine is really almost over, all of the Ukrainian troops there have been largely surrounded and cut off. You have a concentration down in the Southeast of 30 or 40,000 of them, and if they don’t surrender in the next 24 hours, I suspect Russia will ultimately annihilate them.”
I don’t think he anticipated the West helping the Ukrainians.
I don’t think we really know the truth of what’s going on over there.
I see a map that has Russia all along the Eastern border and Crimea.
We hear people saying the Ukrainians are winning, but then there are reports of the their casualties. They’re throwing conscripts to fight. They’ve lost 200,000 soldiers.
I agree with him when he says in the end, it will be what could have been negotiated from the beginning.
Macgregor the Kosovo clown was 100% wrong about Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kharkiv, Izyum. All of his fantasies about Russian cauldrons and encirclements and pincers demonstrates he is as insane as his ex boss Wesley Clark.
Kosovo Macgregor being wrong again 2 months before Ukraine took back Kherson:
“The future of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions along with the Donbas is decided. Moscow is also likely to secure Kharkov and Odessa”.
You left out the part where Lumpy the Clown has predicted Ukraine’s collapse every single day for the last year plus one month. If you were truly paying attention you would know that. Lumpy is a shill for Russia who is actively working against US policy.
Funny, the only one I see foaming at the mouth day after day is you.
Russia continues their slogging advance. They are making daily gains I’m sure with casualties on both sides.
DPA War channel on YouTube has frequent updates.most say it will boil down to the Ukraine Spring Offensive, if it’s successful they may win. If it fails several are saying Ukraine will be lost by the Fall.
Just so. The best way to succeed in negotiations is first to establish a position of strength. With Russia holding about 20% of Ukraine, they have done so. I don’t believe anyone seriously thought Russia would overtake all of Ukraine, a country almost the size of Texas, and that includes Putin. It was clear at the outset that this was the plan. When Biden decided to be the tough guy and keep the war going, the war became an artificially maintained rolling atrocity.
McGregor’s a nobody.
On Free Republic, he’s a straw that can be grasped
If, as the Putin assumed Zelensky would flee the capitol, then yes, sending a large portion of the Russian army to take Kyiv and decapitate the Ukrainian government, made sense. Argument that sending that column was some feint, is just moronic.
The documents indicate that elements of the 76th Airborne Division and Eastern Military District were ordered to depart Belarus and reach Kyiv within 18 hours against little resistance. Russian planners also placed riot police within the division's first column. "Riot police are not suitable to lead elements for a large maneuver force in a conventional force-on-force war because they are not trained to conduct combined arms or mechanized warfare. The decision to place riot police in the lead column violates Russian (or any normal) doctrine and indicates that Russian planners did not expect significant organized Ukrainian resistance," the ISW found.
May Ukraine prevail.
Amen to that!
They’re defending their own country.
Russian or Wagner soldiers near Bahkmut can’t safely leave their holes to take a piss. Drones spot them and then kill them
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.