ARTICLE
Opinion: How the battle for Bakhmut exposed Russia’s ‘meat-grinder’
Opinion by Michael Bociurkiw
Updated 1:16 PM EDT, Fri April 14, 2023
CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/14/opinions/battle-bakhmut-ukraine-russia-war-bociurkiw/index.html
***Editor’s Note:
Michael Bociurkiw (@WorldAffairsPro) is a global affairs analyst currently based in Odesa. He is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He is a regular contributor to CNN Opinion. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion at CNN. Odesa
When the war in Ukraine finally comes to an end, the besieged city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine will go down as one of the most recognizable symbols of the conflict.
A place where happiness was brutally replaced with blood-drenched killing fields.
It will also be recorded in history as a battle that exposed more than anywhere the meat-grinder approach of Russian fighting. Where sending wave upon wave of fighters – including former convicts recruited by the Wagner mercenary group and Russian elite forces – became a military tactic to dislodge Ukrainian forces from the city.
For a prize of highly-questionable military value, the Kremlin, not known for valuing human life – even that of its own citizens – established a new threshold that tolerated the loss of several of its own combatants to every Ukrainian.
“The Russians at the moment, despite trying for six months, with huge numbers of personnel and huge numbers of losses, have been unable to take the town and at the moment have made very, very slow progress,” Western officials said in a briefing last week.
Various experts and entities have debated the military significance of capturing Bakhmut – a city with a pre-war population of around 70,000 – with most agreeing a win or loss there would not alter the trajectory of the war. These days, those remaining are thought to number fewer than 4,000, including 38 children.
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VIDEOS
1. Deadly hand-to-hand combat | Military Mind | TVP World
TVP World
320K subscribers
Apr 24, 2023 3:30 p.m EDT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDYp-QLKVBs
Every day on the front line takes a huge toll on their health, nervous system, and psyche. These guys are not sacrificing all of this for the imaginary promises of politicians. They’re doing it to ensure a free Ukraine and a future for the country they want to see, a future they have paid for with their blood.
2. Ukrainian Artillery Crews Defending Bakhmut Rely On Grad Rocket Systems
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
756K subscribers
Apr 24, 2023 1:00 p.m EDT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZMSrTFH1jw
Ukrainian rocket launchers are raining fire on invading Russian units on the eastern front in the defense of Bakhmut. Ukrainian artillerists say they use multiple-launch systems in pinpoint attacks on valuable Russian equipment. Aiming and shooting quickly is just as important to avoid detection.