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Thursday, March 02, 2023

Ukraine says its forces may pull out of key strategic city of Bakhmut


ABC:

Ukraine says its forces may pull out of key strategic city of Bakhmut




Ukrainian forces have been defending against intensifying Russian attacks in the Donbas region.(AP: Vadim Ghirda)


The Ukrainian military might pull its forces back from the key stronghold of Bakhmut, an adviser to Ukraine's president has said in remarks that suggest Russia may capture the city that has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance.

Kremlin forces have waged a bloody, months-long offensive to take Bakhmut, a city of salt and gypsum mines in eastern Ukraine that has become a ghost town.

"Our military is obviously going to weigh all of the options. So far they've held the city but, if need be, they will strategically pull back," Alexander Rodnyansky, an economic adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told CNN.

"We're not going to sacrifice all of our people just for nothing."

The battle for Bakhmut has come to embody Ukraine's determination, with the city's defenders holding out against relentless shelling and Russian forces suffering heavy casualties.

Bakhmut lies in Donetsk province, one of four provinces Russia illegally annexed.

Moscow controls half of Donetsk province.
Battles around Bakhmut 'increasingly bloody'

To take the remaining half of Donetsk province, Russian forces must go through Bakhmut, the only approach to larger, Ukrainian-held cities since Ukrainian troops took back Izium in Kharkiv province in September.

Mr Rodnyansky said Russia was using the Wagner Group's best troops to try to encircle the city.


Bakhmut has been the site of the heaviest battles in recent days.(AP: Yevhen Titov)


The private military company known for brutal tactics is led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a rogue millionaire with long-time links to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Prigozhin said on Wednesday he had seen no signs of a Ukrainian withdrawal and Kyiv had, in fact, been reinforcing its positions.

"The Ukrainian army is deploying additional troops and is doing what it can to retain control of the city," Mr Prigozhin said.

"Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are offering fierce resistance, and the fighting is getting increasingly bloody by day."

Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said earlier this week that reinforcements had been dispatched to Bakhmut.


Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov told The Associated Press the reinforcements might have been sent "to gain time" for strengthening Ukrainian firing lines on a hill in Chasiv Yar, 15 kilometres west of Bakhmut.

Mr Zhdanov said the possible withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from Bakhmut would "not affect the course of the war in any way" because of the firing positions in Chasiv Yar.

He said Bakhmut had been partly encircled, and all roads, including the main supply route, were within range of Russian fire.

The city lies in ruins and "no longer has strategic or operational significance", he said.

"In Bakhmut, the Russians lost so many forces — soldiers and equipment — that this city has already fulfilled its function," Mr Zhdanov said.

Recent drone footage has shown the scale of devastation in the city, which Mr Zelenskyy has described as "destroyed".


Intense Russian shelling continues

Since invading Ukraine a year ago, Russia has bombarded various cities and towns it has wanted to occupy.

It also targeted Ukraine's power supply with missile strikes ahead of winter in an apparent attempt to weaken residents' morale.



While Western analysts have warned warmer weather might give Moscow an opportunity to renew an offensive, Ukrainian officials have nonetheless celebrated their traditional first day of spring.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced his country had emerged from Putin's "winter terror".

"We survived the most difficult winter in our history," Mr Kuleba wrote on Facebook.

Mr Zelenskyy added in his nightly video address: "This winter is over. It was very difficult, and every Ukrainian felt this difficulty without exaggeration. But still, we were able to provide Ukraine with energy and heat."

In other developments, the Ukrainian president's office reported that at least nine civilians were killed and 12 others wounded.

Three people, including a one-year-old boy, were wounded in Russian shelling of Ukraine's southern Kherson province on Wednesday, regional officials reported.

Fierce fighting also continued in Donetsk province, with Bakhmut, the cities of Avdiivka and Vuhledar, and 17 towns and villages, coming under intense Russian shelling.


Ukraine denies attacking inside Russia with drones


If the war becomes a protracted conflict, Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Kariņs said that would demand a response from Kyiv's Western allies.

"This is potentially, for many years to come, where we will have to readapt our militaries, our military industry, to be able to step up to a much, much bigger challenge," Mr Karins said after talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.


Ukrainian soldiers have been launching drones from the front lines.(AP: Evgeniy Maloletka)


Meanwhile, one of Mr Zelenskyy's top advisers, Mykhailo Podolyak, denied on Wednesday that Ukraine had used drones to attack Russian territory following official Russian statements that Ukraine had targeted infrastructure deep inside Russia.



"Ukraine does not strike on the territory of the Russian Federation," Mr Podolyak wrote on Twitter.

"Ukraine is waging a defensive war with the aim of de-occupying all its territories."

He suggested the Russian infrastructure was the target of "internal attacks".

Ukraine's Western allies have discouraged Ukraine from attacking targets in Russia to avoid escalation of the conflict, and Mr Podolyak's statement may reflect an attempt by Kyiv to maintain a degree of deniability in view of those Western concerns.

In the past, Ukrainian officials have stopped short of claiming responsibility for attacks in Russia, but have also insisted they have the right to strike any target in Russian territory in response to its aggression.

Asked about Mr Podolyak's denial, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "We don't believe it."


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