Russians have been stymied in front of Bakhmut for months. Even if they begin a major push it will be a very tough nut to crack, with large areas given to house to house fighting. Doubt the Russian conscripts have much taste for that sort of thing.
I realize that’s what we’re being led to believe. The fact is the Ukrainians have tenaciously held onto Bakhmut and it’s the Russians (the Wagner Group in particular) that have allowed the Ukrainians to turn it into a meat grinder for their own men where they are losing a battalion a day in killed and wounded. It is the Ukrainians who are throwing barely trained men into the fight as fodder. The Russians have cut off the main line of supply and can hit all the roads around it with short range artillery. Plain and simple, it is the Ukrainians who are dying for the pride of one individual. Zelensky needs to get to the negotiating table. Lies told to the contrary are only going to add to the needless death and suffering.
Russians have been stymied in front of Bakhmut for months. Even if they begin a major push it will be a very tough nut to crack, with large areas given to house to house fighting. Doubt the Russian conscripts have much taste for that sort of thing.
—
The troops on that from are Wagner mercenaries, they are the most effective troops that Russia has because they are not bound by regular Russian army rules, tactics or paperwork. They take a common sense approach to war.
That said, the troops they are using are all Russian convicts taken from prisons on the promise of having their sentence commuted if they fight for a certain period, else if they retreat they will be shot.
As of a week of so ago he owner of the Wagner Group said Bakhmut is NOT the objective, rather it is to kill as many Ukraine troops as possible in this war of attrition. The mission of the convicts has been stated as kill and die. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner said, ‘we are exchanging low value material (the convicts) and clearing out our prisons for as many lives of high value material (UA troops) as possible’.
Since they cannot retreat, they can be sent on frontal attacks on strong holds, fulfilling their purpose to kill and die.