Putin on the verge of his biggest victory in six months as Ukraine admits it may have to withdraw troops from Bakhmut after a bloody months-long offensive

Ukraine admitted today that it may have to withdraw its troops from Bakhmut as Russia launched a bloody months-long offensive to take the besieged Ukrainian city.

Vladimir Putin’s troops are They continued their relentless attacks on the small mining town in eastern Ukraine, trying to encircle the defending forces and force them to surrender or retreat.

If successful, it would give Putin his first major victory in more than half a year and pave the way for the capture of the last remaining urban centers in the Donetsk region.

And now Alexander Rodnyansky, an economic adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has admitted that Ukrainian troops may withdraw from the city.

“It is clear that our military will weigh all options,” Rodnyansky told CNN. “So far they have held the city, but if necessary they will withdraw strategically. We will not sacrifice all our people in vain.’

Ukrainian soldiers from the 80th Brigade prepare to fire on targets from a mobile howitzer outside Bakhmut on Tuesday

A Ukrainian soldier from the 80th Brigade is seen in a mobile howitzer outside Bakhmut on Tuesday

The Battle of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s Donetsk region has become a symbol of the Ukrainian resistance as the defenders hold their ground against relentless shelling and waves of Russian troops who have suffered heavy casualties in a months-long campaign.

Rodnyansky noted that Russia used the best troops of the Wagner group to try to encircle the city, while Zelensky accused Moscow of throwing waves of men into Bakhmut without regard for their lives.

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, a scheming millionaire with long-standing ties to Putin, said on Wednesday that he had so far seen no signs of a Ukrainian withdrawal from the city. He claimed that Kiev had indeed strengthened its positions there.

“The Ukrainian army is sending additional troops and doing what it can to maintain control of the city,” Prigozhin said. “Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are offering fierce resistance and the fighting is getting bloodier by the day.”

Recent drone footage shows the extent of the devastation in the city, while Zelensky said she was “devastated”.

Flames and smoke rise into the sky from burning buildings, while constant gunfire and explosions echo from the city’s crumbling walls.

Thousands of residents remain in the devastated city from a pre-war population of around 70,000.

“It’s scary indeed,” said a middle-aged man in an overcoat and woolen hat on the steps of his apartment building.

“I can barely move my legs – they barely move – from the stress of the situation,” he said. “As long as my house is intact and I’m not injured, I’ll stay here.”

Vladimir Putin’s forces continue their relentless attacks on the small mining town in eastern Ukraine. In the photo: Ukrainian soldiers near Bakhmut on Tuesday

Ukrainian soldiers from the 80th brigade are deployed outside Bakhmut, Ukraine, on Tuesday

A Ukrainian soldier was seen in the mobile howitzer in front of Bakhmut on Tuesday

An elderly woman stands in her backyard after being shelled by shells in Chasiv Yar near Bakhmut on Tuesday

The Battle of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s Donetsk region has become a symbol of the Ukrainian resistance, as defenders hold out against relentless shelling and waves of Russian troops suffer heavy casualties in a month-long campaign to capture Bakhmut.

The Bakhmut area was the only part of the front where Moscow made significant gains in a winter offensive that led to what both sides described as the bloodiest fighting of the war.

“Russia generally shows no regard for people and sends them against our positions in constant waves, the intensity of the fighting is only increasing,” Zelenskyy said in a speech overnight. necessary.

After losing a large area in the second half of 2022, Russian troops were replenished with hundreds of thousands of reservists.

For its part, Kiev has remained mostly on the defensive for the past three months, hoping the Russian offensive will wear down Moscow’s troops before Ukraine launches a counterattack with new weapons promised by the West.

The fighting near Bakhmut was led by Wagner, who recruited tens of thousands of prisoners from prisons. His boss, Prigozhin, accuses the regular Russian army of treason for not providing his men with enough supplies.

A view of the city of Bakhmut, site of the heaviest fighting with Russian troops, in the Donetsk region

Vladimir Putin’s forces continue their relentless attacks on the small mining town in eastern Ukraine

Bakhmut was destroyed due to heavy shelling by Russian troops

Wagner received clear support from the Kremlin on Wednesday when Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, discussed expanding censorship laws with a 15-year prison sentence for those who discredit “voluntary formations”.

“This initiative will protect all those who risk their lives today to ensure the safety of the country and our citizens,” Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on social media. “The punishment for offenders will be severe.”

At least nine civilians were killed and 12 others injured across the country on Tuesday, the Ukrainian president’s office said on Wednesday morning.

Heavy fighting continued in eastern Donetsk province, with the towns of Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Vuhledar coming under heavy Russian shelling along with 17 other towns and villages. “The shooting does not stop along the entire front line,” the presidential office said in a regular update.

In the easternmost province of Luhansk, regional governor Serhiy Haidai said the Ukrainian military blew up a warehouse in Russian-controlled Kadiivka on the site of a factory where Russian troops were storing truckloads of ammunition.

The Russian army tried to break through the Ukrainian defenses in Bilohorivka and near Kreminna, “but the Russian attack was repulsed,” Haidai said.