Except verdun didn’t fall And both sides fairly even
Bakhmut is toast and Ukraine depleted there
Once it’s gone it’ll be it really didn’t matter anyhow
wardaddy - note that buwaya said clearly that Verdun was far more important for morale and was considered a border garrison for nearly a century at that point.
Verdun was a fortress city on the River Meuse, and a strategically-vital link in the French sector of the Allied line on the Western Front. To the French people, Verdun was also a symbolic fortress and a national treasure. The loss of such a citadel would be an enormous blow to French morale.
Bakhmut is and was not - it is symbolic in a lower sense, but not as big a loss as it was when Kherson fell to Russia last year.
“Bakhmut is toast” — well, not yet. It’s been 7 months and it still hasn’t fallen. It probably will (or won’t - still to be seen), but 7 months for the supposedly 2nd strongest military in the world is a massive infra dig for Russia.
“Ukraine is depleted there” - not quite. Remember that defenders have lower losses in most cases and especially so when the Ukrainians have been preparing this place for 8 years as a killing point to kill Russians. Numbers bandied around are anywhere from 3 Russians killed for every 1 Ukrainian to 7:1 and even 10:1
“Once it’s gone it’ll be it really didn’t matter anyhow”
The “once” is unknown at this time,
:didn’t matter anywhow” — no more than Mariupol which make a chokehold for the Russians in the east keeping them busy, and also killing off many Russian soldiers.