The Biden administration is exerting serious pressure on the Kiev regime to evacuate Ukrainian forces from Artemovsk (Bakhmut) in order to concentrate the maximum number of troops on a previously announced counteroffensive in the south, Mark Sleboda, an international relations and security analyst, told Sputnik.
According to the expert, Russian forces currently control about 90% of Artemovsk, having taken over all of the city's districts except for the western part, where up to 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers are located. Ukrainian forces have also concentrated significant forces on the announced operation to break the siege of Artemovsk. Sleboda cited a figure of 80,000 troops. He stated that if the operation, postponed due to bad weather conditions, does not begin in the next few weeks, the garrison will be defeated and capitulate.
The situation in Artemovsk has reportedly led to a conflict between President Volodymyr Zelensky and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny. Zelensky has insisted on holding the city at any cost, no matter how severe the losses are, apparently for political gains.
Recently, a Sputnik correspondent shared a video of the aftermath of the fighting in the city center taken from a reconnaissance UAV from a bird's-eye view.
The expert noted that the remnants of the garrison are already experiencing very difficult conditions, and in the event of the city's surrender, and after Russian troops have captured the besieged "fortress cities" of Maryinka and Avdeevka, Russian forces will likely attack the heights to the west of Artemovsk, where there are no serious fortifications.
By taking these heights, Russian troops will be able to freely shell Ukrainian positions along the last Donbass defensive line of Kramatorsk-Slavyansk while Russian troops regroup. According to Sleboda, a break in offensive operations can be expected until the summer.
The expert, however, is skeptical about Ukraine's widely-discussed "counteroffensive" plans. He calls the Russian defensive line well-fortified and describes Ukrainian forces as "cannon fodder." No matter how many Ukrainian troops are being prepared for the offensive, the outcome of their undertaking will be unsuccessful, the analyst believes.
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