Quote:
Originally Posted by Firebot
Unfortunately, Bakhmut is untenable, it has always been with Russia focusing so intensely on it with out regard to man loss. Ukraine isn't going to heavily reinforce the area to engage Russia in a battle of attrition for a largely strategically meaningless town. The tactical goal has always been to drain as much Russian military strength as possible with the eventual withdrawal should it be needed.
By all accounts though, this has been Russian major offensive, with disastrously enormous results in what may be the most pyrrhic victory in history (Russia may have lost as many as 50K troops in Bakhmut front alone).
We will soon see what the Ukraine spring offensive may look like.
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Pyrrhic victory is a good way of putting it. I find it fascinating to see the strategy play out here by Ukraine as they have refused to pull out time and time again despite things looking bleak on many occasions. By all accounts Bakhmut should have been lost long ago and yet the soldiers of Ukraine somehow manage to hold on.
It does seem like only a matter of time before they are forced to pull back but as you say the time that has been bought to properly equip and prepare for the spring offensive has been incredibly valuable and potentially the turning point in the war for the defeat of the Russian forces.
I'd like to hear more about why Eduard Moskalyov was sacked tho, something seems up there and the timing is very strange. Hopefully we learn more cause the timing seems like it would be a morale killer for the guys on the ground there.