So, is Bakhmut “of strategic military importance” or not? The answer seems to depend on who is doing the talking and when. Last summer, I remember Western sources seemed to think it important. Now they don’t.
From last summer:
“Bakhmut, the third key city in the region, is situated by a highway leading to Lysychansk. This highway is deemed an essential route for keeping Ukrainean troops supplied. Heavy battles were fought here in 2014 and 2015.”
DW still seemed to think there was strategic value in December:
https://www.dw.com/en/seizing-soledar-would-be-a-strategic-victory-for-russia/a-64357268
I don’t know anything about this Turkish site or its worth but:
Makes some sense.
So, was it important last summer but not now?
Whatever, Zelensky has poured a lot of resources into it. Apparently he thinks it is important. Same for the Russians. So are both Zelensky and the Russians stupid?
Or is the media claiming it’s not important now because Western military analysts figured the Ukrainians could not hold it against the Russians and passed along the “not important” story to the media? Who knows?
Lots of death and destruction. That we do know. Kyrie Elieson.
Bakhmut is NOT worth the blood it is costing the Ukrainians. That is my opinion. The media is worthless and they sell infotainment more than sage wisdom.
The Russians have sucked at combined arms warfare and they seem very uncoordinated. The Ukrainians took advantage of that and they were able to effectively exploit the Russian ineptitude to fight them off. However, I expect the Russians will be better than they were last year (how could they not) because they have had time to reflect on why they were so bad, but who knows how this will go? Based on interviews of soldiers from the front line the Russians are grinding the Ukrainian forces down in this fixed position trench warfare and Putin does not care how many men he feeds into the meat grinder. He can better afford the losses than the Ukrainians can.
Their economy is in bad shape and they have lost a lot of financial and human capital - they could not afford to lose either before the war. They are basically a gas station with a flag and they are not making money on “oil” like people say they are..... they want high gas prices because it cost them more to get theirs and bring it to market than it does OPEC nations.
At this point, in my estimation, keeping your veteran forces intact is more important for the Ukrainians than holding a spot on a map that has been destroyed.
The longer this drags on the more likely it will be that nuclear weapons will be used or other nations (NATO nations) might become involved. The longer this drags on the more likely that the geniuses in charge of our nation will increase our involvement.