The center of Bakhmut is now a “killing zone,” but Ukrainian strategists are hoping the high body count will work in its favor in the long run.
Russian mercenary forces have taken control of the eastern part of the Ukrainian city they’ve been fighting to capture since May 2022, pushing the front line to the Bakhmutka River that cuts through its middle, the UK Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update Saturday.
Ukrainian forces are hunkered down in buildings to the west of the river, creating a small area of open ground — no larger than about 2,600 feet — between the two sides that is now the deadly epicenter of the fighting, the report said.
An aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the decision to stay and fight for war-ravaged Bakhmut is a part of a strategy to wear down Russia’s best fighting forces before launching a counter attack.
“Russia has changed tactics,” Zelensky aide Mykhailo Podolyak said in an interview with Italy’s La Stampa newspaper. “It has converged on Bakhmut with a large part of its trained military personnel, the remnants of its professional army, as well as the private companies.”
“We, therefore, have two objectives: to reduce their capable personnel as much as possible, and to fix them in a few key wearisome battles, to disrupt their offensive and concentrate our resources elsewhere, for the spring counter-offensive,” Podolyak continued. “So, today Bakhmut is completely effective, even exceeding its key tasks.”
Another official echoed Podolyak, telling BBC that Bakhmut has been “a unique opportunity to kill a lot of Russians.” --->READ MORE HERE
On Saturday, 11 March, Russian troops made unsuccessful offensive attempts on the Kupiansk and Lyman, Avdiivka, Marinka, and Shakhtarsk fronts; they also continue the assault operations on Bakhmut.
Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, information as of 18:00 on 11 March
Details: During the day, Russian forces launched 12 air and 2 missile strikes on the city of Zaporizhzhia. The S-300 air defence system hit a civilian infrastructure facility, causing damage to one building. There were no casualties among the civilians.
Also, Russian forces launched 34 attacks from multiple-launch rocket systems. One of them hit the civilian infrastructure facility in the city of Kherson. There were victims among the civilian population; two were killed and three wounded. The probability of further missile strikes throughout the territory of Ukraine remains pretty high.
The Russians’ main goal is still to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. The occupiers are concentrating their efforts on conducting offensive actions on the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Marinka, and Shakhtarsk fronts.
There were no significant changes on the Volyn, Polissia, Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna fronts; the situation remains stable. The Russian Federation maintains a military presence on the territory of the Republic of Belarus, but the formation of offensive groups has not been detected. At the same time, Russian forces continue engineering equipment on the border of Bryansk and Kursk oblasts. During the day, the enemy carried out mortar and artillery attacks in the areas of Chervona Zoria, Krasne, Ohirtseve, Kolodiazne, Krasne Pershe, Novomlynsk and Kamianka in Kharkiv Oblast. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to +++++relevant+++++ and related stories:
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