Britain: Russian advance on Bakhmut could leave heavy casualties

Ukrainian paratroopers from the 80th assault brigade rest inside a trench at the front lines near Bakhmut, Ukraine, on March 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces have made advances on Bakhmut, the country’s eastern fighting city and a key target in the Moscow campaign, resulting in heavy casualties, but their assault it will be difficult to sustain in time without more deaths, Britain’s army said in its statement on Saturday.

The British Ministry of Defense said in its latest tweet that paramilitary units of the Kremlin-controlled Wagner Group have captured most of eastern Bakhmut and that the river that runs through the center of the city now marks the line of the forehead.

However, it will be a “great challenge” for the forces of Wagner Group to advance as Ukraine has destroyed key bridges over the river, while Ukrainian sniper fire from fortified buildings further west turns a narrow strip of open ground into the center in a “death zone”.

At the same time, Ukrainian troops and supply lines in the mining town remain vulnerable to “continued Russian attempts to attack the defenders from the north and south” as Russian forces try to close by performing a pincer movement. the ministry said.

Separately, Russian military bloggers and other pro-Kremlin Telegram accounts claimed on Friday that Moscow troops have entered a metal processing plant in northwest Bakhmuth. Later, a Washington-based think tank also referenced geolocated images showing Russian forces within 800 meters (yards) of the AZOM plant, a fortified complex.

The Institute for the Study of War indicated that Moscow’s apparent focus on seizing the facilities, rather than opting for a “broader encirclement of western Bakhmut” by trying to capture nearby villages, could trigger a further spike in the warfare. Russian casualties.

Elsewhere in the country, repair work continued on Saturday after a wave of Russian missile and drone strikes that left six dead and hundreds of thousands without heat or electricity two days earlier.

The Ukrainian power operator said supply problems persisted in four regions after the offensive, which included 80 Russian missiles and a smaller number of explosive-laden drones that hit residential areas and critical infrastructure across the country.

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