Russia Tries to Close Ring On Bakhmut as Ukrainians Resist; Russia’s Winter Offensive Is Criminally Incompetent; In an Epic Battle of Tanks, Russia Was Routed, Repeating Earlier Mistakes; Russia Lacks Enough Troops in Transnistria to Open New Front, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

REUTERS/Yevhen Titov

Russia tries to close ring on Bakhmut as Ukrainians resist:

Russian forces carried out relentless attacks on Bakhmut on Wednesday, trying to encircle and storm the eastern Ukrainian city and claim their first major prize for more than half a year after some of the bloodiest fighting of the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Moscow of throwing waves of men into battle in Bakhmut with no regard for their lives, and said the fighting was "most difficult" but the city's defence essential.

"The enemy continues to advance. The assault on the city of Bakhmut continues," the general staff of Ukraine's armed forces said in a Facebook post on Wednesday evening.

Hours later, Zelenskiy said in a video address that "we are keeping each sector of the front under control". He accused Russian forces of shelling cities on the frontline in a campaign of "deliberate terror".

The leader of Russia's Wagner mercenary group said the Ukrainians were putting up "furious resistance" trying to hold the city at all costs.

Russia also said it had repelled a massive drone attack on Crimea, the peninsula its forces seized from Ukraine and claimed to annex in 2014. On Tuesday Moscow accused Kyiv of launching a series of drone strikes on targets in Russia itself.

Reuters was able to reach Bakhmut from the west on Monday - proof the city was not yet surrounded despite Russian forces pressing from north and south to close the last access routes. --->READ MORE HERE

Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images

Russia’s Winter Offensive Is Criminally Incompetent:

Even for an army long known for how casually it values the lives of its soldiers, the Russians seem to be taking things to a new level.

In the midst of the long-rumored Russian winter offensive — yes, it’s here, despite its underwhelming nature — the Russians have resorted to shockingly unimaginative tactics: They’re throwing mobilized conscripts at prepared Ukrainian defensive positions. When that doesn’t work, the Russian commanders throw more conscripts at the trenches.

The New York Times‘ Andrew Kramer, reporting from Lyman, Ukraine, writes:

A year into the war in Ukraine, the Russian military has suffered staggering losses — as many as 200,000 troops killed or wounded, Western officials say, and thousands of tanks and armored vehicles destroyed or captured by Ukraine. Russia is running low on artillery shells and cruise missiles, and is having trouble replenishing its stocks because of Western sanctions. Many of its most elite, best-trained and experienced units have been decimated, left in a shambles that experts say will probably take years, rather than months, to recover from.

In their places, Russia is being forced to rely on tens of thousands of newly conscripted soldiers rushed to the front with little time for instruction. Their inexperience was evident to Diesel from what he saw on the battlefield. “By how they move,” he said, “I see they are not professional.”

The problem for the Russians can be boiled down to leadership. --->READ MORE HERE

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