I would hope that the Ukrainians have a plan to bust out of Bahkmut because outside of symbolism it really has little strategic value that I can see. The Ukrainians have stuck it out there taking heavy casualties from artillery because Western media turned the town into a “Stalingrad” moment. If they withdraw or suffer defeat the cheerleaders in the West may withdraw funding.
This is a Russian style of war, not that of the Ukrainians. I feel sorry for those guys because they are getting pounded.
“Western media turned the town into a “Stalingrad” moment. If they withdraw or suffer defeat the cheerleaders in the West may withdraw funding.”
Western military strategists said the exact opposite: That Bakhmut had little real strategic value, and that Ukraine should not exhaust a lot of effort for it.