The city of Bakhmut, the key and symbol of the war of Ukraine against Russia [VIDEO]

The battle of Bakhmut, one of the most difficult and longest in the war in Ukraine, has acquired a symbolic meaning over the months, which goes far beyond its strategic interests.

The fate of the eastern city Ukraine think of the port of Mariupol to the south, devastated by months of terrible fighting until it fell into Russian hands in the first half of 2022.

bahmut is also at the center of a fierce internal rivalry in Russia.

The city is devastated by fierce fighting

bahmutsmall industrial city in the east Ukrainewith 70,000 inhabitants before the Russian invasion, was devastated after eight months of fighting.

Ukrainian soldiers call it “hell on earth,” but today it is “virtually surrounded,” according to the Russian paramilitary group Wagner.

This battle with incessant artillery fire and advance meter by meter led to huge losses on both sides.

Civilians, several thousand of whom were hiding in basements, also paid a heavy price, as did the Ukrainian and foreign volunteers who came to their aid.

What strategic importance does it have?

Not much, analysts agree. This was acknowledged even by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview with the French daily Le Figaro in February: “From a strategic point of view, bahmut It doesn’t matter much because the Russians completely destroyed the city with their artillery.”

“Battle for bahmut he used enormous human and material resources. These investments are not commensurate with the importance of the city,” says retired Australian general Mick Ryan, a research fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). “It’s not a very important military target,” he says.

For Belgian military analyst Joseph Enrotin: bahmut this served to “degrade everyone’s potential”. “Since December, the Russians have been trying to weaken the Ukrainian positions, forcing them to deploy forces everywhere and not allowing them to concentrate to create a breakthrough. bahmut this is just one piece of the puzzle. Its fall means nothing if other points resist,” he says.

However, in the long term, it could open the way to Kramatorsk, a large industrial city further west but still heavily guarded, the researcher elaborates.

Symbolic meaning

Months went by and things got more complicated bahmut acquired a symbolic meaning. President Zelensky personally visited the “fortress bahmutDecember. The head of the Wagner militia, Yevgeny Prigozhin, staged an almost personal fight, allegedly to prove the viability of his mercenaries.

“The magnitude of the losses gave bahmut political significance,” says Mick Ryan.

“This is a real symbol for both Ukrainians and Russians,” agrees Thibault Fuyet of the Strategic Research Foundation (FRS).

“But some of the things that were announced as the final turning points in the war were not,” he says, referring in particular to the Russian withdrawal from the Kharkiv region (northeast) in April or the Ukrainian recapture of Kherson (south) in the fall. .

“I think we will quickly move on to the next hot spot on the front, which is the hallmark of this war of attrition,” he adds.

Internal Russian question

capture bahmutin what will be Russia’s first victory since Ukraine’s fall counter-offensive is at the center of a rivalry between the Russian defense ministry and the Wagner boss, who has been trying to gain political weight for months now.

In recent weeks, Prigozhin has lashed out at the “monstrous military bureaucracy” and “politicians” and even accused Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of “betrayal” for not delivering ammunition to his mercenaries.

According to Russian researcher Tatyana Stanova of the R.Politik Center, the war in Ukraine gave the Wagner boss dreams of greatness.

“Now Prigozhin is a very prominent actor on the Russian stage,” he says. “The war in Ukraine has gotten public attention and he loves it,” he adds. (According to AFP)

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Fernando Carvallo selects information and shares his vision of national and international news. subscribe to our mailing list