Russia may lose battle in Bakhmut due to lack of ammunition
2023.03.06 04:45
Russia may lose battle in Bakhmut due to lack of ammunition
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – The top of Russia’s Wagner hired fighter force cautioned that Russia’s situation around the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut was in danger except if his soldiers got ammo, the most recent indication of pressure between the Kremlin and the confidential civilian army boss.
Ukrainian military officials and analysts also said that Russia’s 155th Brigade leaders fighting south of Bakhmut near the town of Vuhledar were resisting orders to attack after losing a lot of ground in attempts to take it.
The Ukrainian Azov Regiment’s command center in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region was struck by Russian forces, according to the Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday. The attack was not explained in detail by the ministry.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of Wagner, said that Russia’s front lines near Bakhmut could fall apart if his troops didn’t get the ammunition Moscow promised in February.
“For the time being, we are trying to figure out why: “Is it just ordinary bureaucracy or a betrayal?” asked Prigozhin on Sunday in his press service Telegram channel, referring to the lack of ammunition.
The head of the mercenary regularly criticizes Russia’s top generals and defense chiefs. He accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and others of “treason” for denying his troops ammunition supplies last month.
Prigozhin stated that his troops were concerned that the government might use them as scapegoats in the event that Russia lost the war in a video that lasted nearly four minutes and was posted on the Wagner Orchestra Telegram channel on Saturday.
Prigozhin stated, “The whole front will collapse if Wagner retreats from Bakhmut now.” For all of the military formations defending Russian interests, the situation will not be pleasant.
After mobilizing hundreds of thousands of reservists last year, Russia’s first major prize in a costly winter offensive would be a victory in Bakhmut, which had a population of approximately 70,000 prior to the war. According to Russia, it would be a step toward completing one of its most important goals, which is the capture of the industrial Donbas region.
The commander of Ukrainian troops in Bakhmut, Volodymyr Nazarenko, stated that there had been no orders to retreat and that “the defense is holding” despite the dire circumstances.
In a Telegram video, Nazarenko stated, “The situation in Bakhmut and the area around it is very much hell-like, as it is on the entire eastern front.”
Early on Monday, the Ukrainian military reported that its forces had stopped 95 Russian attacks in the Bakhmut region the day before.
In a video commentary, Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov stated, “The situation in Bakhmut can be described as critical.”
A little over a year ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine as part of a “special military operation.”
Despite the fact that tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions have fled, and cities have been reduced to rubble, Ukrainian forces have held back Russian advances to the east and south with the assistance of weapons from the West.
According to the Ukrainian military, Russian troops advanced toward the town of Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region to the north of Bakhmut and shelled several settlements in the direction of Kupiansk and Lyman.
The Ukrainian military reported that Russian forces were preparing for an offensive in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to the south. The Ukrainian military said that Russian forces were shelling dozens of towns and villages, including the city of Kherson, which killed civilians.
According to the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Russian mortar bombs killed a woman and two children in a village in the Kherson region.
Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian air force, stated that thirteen kamikaze drones had been shot down on Sunday night.
After Russian forces shot down three missiles near the town of Novy Oskol on Monday, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, reported that one person was injured by falling debris.
Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion, Belgorod has repeatedly come under fire because it borders the Kharkiv region in Ukraine. Ukraine rarely publicly claims responsibility for Russian attacks.
Ukraine claimed that senior officers of Russia’s 155th Brigade, which Kyiv claims suffered significant losses recently, were refusing to obey orders to attack near Vuhledar, southwest of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk.
According to a statement released by the Ukrainian military, “The leaders of the brigade and senior officers are refusing to proceed with a new senseless attack as demanded by their unskilled commanders – to storm well-defended Ukrainian positions with little protection or preparation.”
According to military analyst Zhdanov, two Russian “Cossack” units known as Steppe and Tiger have refused to participate in any new offensive on the hilltop town because they are dissatisfied with their leaders.
Russian Defense Minister Shoigu is making a once-in-a-lifetime visit to his troops in Ukraine this weekend to present medals and meet with commanders. He went to the eastern city of Mariupol on Monday, which Russian forces took over last year after a months-long siege.
