Posted on 01/03/2023 9:15:39 AM PST by Salohcin
Russian troops attacking the Ukrainian town of Bakhmut are bogged down because of a tenacious Ukrainian resistance and an extensive network of defensive fortifications, the head of Russia’s mercenary company Wagner said Tuesday.
There is a “fortress in every house” in Bakhmut, Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an interview with state news agency RIA Novosti.
“The lads are fighting over every house, sometimes for more than a day. Sometimes it takes them weeks to capture a house. They take one house, they take another.”
Wagner soldiers — including inmates recruited from Russian prisoners — have been leading a Russian assault on Bakhmut that has lasted almost eight months and intensified in early winter as Russian military commanders apparently came under pressure to deliver a battlefield victory.
Russia’s determination to take Bakhmut, a city of little strategic significance, has puzzled many military experts, who question Moscow’s huge commitment of men and resources.
Bakhmut has been badly damaged in the bitter fighting and fewer than 10,000 civilians from a pre-war population of about 70,000 are believed to remain.
Prigozhin offered little reassurance that Bakhmut could be seized any time soon.
“They took one house this morning and broke through the defenses. But behind that house were new defensive lines — and not just one,” he told RIA Novosti.
“And how many such defensive lines are there in Artemovsk [Bakhmut]? If we say 500 we probably won’t be making a mistake. Every 10 meters there is a defensive line,” he said.
That is already their line.
It does seem that way, though.
The Russians are dropping artillery on anyone spotted moving in Bakmut, so the Ukrainians are nested in tight. The Ukrainians have HIMARS and other advanced attack materiel and are sporadically using it to attack the Russians in their territory.
Either way it’s pointless and the peace treaty needs to be signed now.
LOL the putin lovers will blame somebody
they never take responsibility
and they especially never criticize their favorite killer
Prigozhin is a good illustration of why the Russian’s are failing.
He is not a military man. He started as Putin’s favorite caterer.
The only thing that matter’s to Putin is loyalty and that means the war is being run by men with no expertise or ability.
The Russians have said the conditions for peace are the recognition of its “annexations” by of the four oblasts, including areas still under Ukrainian control, and the demilitarization of Ukraine, which would make it vulnerable to a third Russian invasion. Do you believe that Ukraine should accept these unreasonable conditions?
I have a question, do you think we should send in US troops to restore Ukraine’s borders?
What other choice do they have but watch their men get killed while their NATO friends lob long range missiles at random targets of interest far from the battlefield? Putin has no interest in taking over western Ukraine because all the people west of Kiev hate the Russians but a good amount in the Donbas are Russian.
It’s not a pretty resolution for either side but Ukraine is not getting those territory or Crimea back since most of AZOV et al are breaking rocks in Siberia now.
It’s been said the Russians are just using this town as a meat grinder to hit Ukrainian reinforcements with artillery while taking few losses themselves. If so, this article could reasonably be interpreted as a misinformation effort to obscure the Russian strategy. Any time someone seems to be doing something that doesn’t make sense in a war, it’s wise to assume they are up to something you haven’t grasped rather than assuming that are idiots. Certainly there are many examples of the latter in war, but life-and-death situations are where people are at their canniest and trying the hardest not to be stupid.
Many have said Russia using Bakhmut to wear down fully Ukraines army and resources.....so far not intersted in taking the city.
Have read and heard several saying that as well - it certainly looks like it.
Imagine the eternal Hell awaiting this Wagner boss guy.
I find it fascinating that people have no consideration whatsoever for the afterlife or even the lack of hedging their bets in preparation thereof.
No we should not send US troops. Lend-leasing Ukraine adequate armament will get the job done.
Maybe if Prigozhin would only walk through Bakhmut swinging his sledgehammer , Ukrainians would flee in panic?
The problem seems to be there’s not much more we can give them that they can use themselves. They aren’t going learn to fly F-16s or operate M1 tanks overnight. Our capacity for making more of what they have is very limited. We can’t even keep enough Patriot missiles in stock to give them some and supply our allies. Ukraine fires about 5000 155mm shells a day while we currently produce just 15,000 a month. And of course, the really limited commodity is men.
So what is my point? It seems if we don’t do something different now there will be no point to do anything later.
No we should not send US troops. Lend-leasing Ukraine adequate armament will get the job done.
When are they going to pay us back for this Lend-lease? Oops, I forgot, poor sap US taxpayers get the bill.
A sensible commander would see that situation and just go attack somewhere else where the Ukrainians are not dug in, and then the defenses in Bakhmut would be useless. But Prigozhin isn’t free to just adapt like that. He has his orders and he’s going to keep trying to take Bakhmut no matter how foolish it is.
We can deduct it from the Pentagon’s future annual budgets when russia ceases to be a geopolitical foe. Call it a peace dividend.
The Russians never actually wanted to capture the city and just wanted to lure the Ukrainians into an artillery killing zone? I’ll wager that will be their new line.
Sounds like the blather Hitler was retailing about Stalingrad just before the roof caved in on the 6th Army.
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