Battle for Bakhmut - "war of attrition" and "bloody whirlpool"

After withdrawal of Russian troops from Kherson, as predicted by military experts, the toughest and bloodiest fights moved to the city Bakhmut of Donetsk region. This is written about not only in Ukrainian and Russian reports, but also in the Western press, and increased pressure on Bakhmut associated precisely with transfer of Russian reinforcements from the Kherson front. 

Bakhmut can become a black hole for the APU

Как claims edition of The New York Times, the situation near Bakhmut is very difficult for both sides. It is noted that The Armed Forces of Ukraine also sent reinforcements to the city - special forces and fighters of the defense.

According to the interlocutors of the newspaper, the battle for Bakhmut is important for Russia not only to capture the city, but also for the sake of depletion of Ukraine's resources.

"Russia can turn the city into a resource-intensive black hole for Kyiv, which will have to withdraw troops from other priority areas", - writes the publication.

It is reported that in some areas of Bakhmut there are street fights, and there is no light and water in the city. In some areas - a terrible cadaverous smell.

According to the newspaper, Bakhmut is turning into a "bloody whirlpool" for both armies - hundreds of wounded, colossal destruction, hundreds of fighters are delivered to the local hospital. According to a journalist Victoria Khamaza, two days from the city received 500 Wounded, and the flow does not stop, someone got out on his own, but most needed evacuation.

Knee-deep mud, arms and legs stiffen, but you still have to shoot

How a wounded soldier is evacuated from under Bakhmut, who received shrapnel wounds to his legs, was shown in the National Guard.

⚡️Donechchyna is becoming the epicenter of violent battles.
In the video, one of the settlements near Bakhmut, which was destroyed by artillery and RSZV of the enemy. On the video, a group is evacuated from the shelling of one of the soldiers of the National Guard, who took off the shrapnel wounded on him. pic.twitter.com/GB54YiCEpl

— NSU (@ng_ukraine) November 27st

About the difficulties faced by the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Bakhmut, рассказал and volunteer Viktor Borinets.

"If it's hard for someone lately without communications, please remember Bakhmut and other areas of the front. You can even put yourself on a screensaver. Hold on", — he wrote, adding eloquent photos.

Problems due to weather conditions are also confirmed by a fighter from the Svoboda battalion Yaroslav Lysenko, about this he сказал on the TV channel "Espresso".

"The cold upset us a little. We promptly purchased heating supplies, starting with thermal socks and ending with hand warmers, potbelly stoves, candles. When your hands get stiff, you don't feel your legs from the cold, and you also have to shoot and you have to be very careful - it exhausts everything", - he said.

According to the military, artillery managed to "thin out" the enemy, but groups of mobilized, driven by the Wagnerites, trying to break into Ukrainian positions.

"Now there is such a kind of swing - either we are recapturing positions, or they are. Parity is on our side. We moved 500-700 meters in order to save personnel, regroup and take more advantageous positions," - said Lysenko.

Doctors do not have time to take the wounded to the hospital

But, in fact, heavy losses near Bakhmut were discussed as early as the beginning of November. Photos from Bakhmut hospital published photographers Konstantin and Vlad Liberov. According to their observations, one day the wounded were brought to the hospital in Bakhmut every half an hour.

"Doctors work non-stop, almost without a break for sleep, food or just a cigarette", the Liberovs write.

Some of the wounded in the Bakhmut direction of the front, doctors do not have time to bring here alive.

"A car drives into the courtyard of the hospital. It looks a little different from an ordinary medevac. The door opens. The body is covered with a rag. He no longer needs the help of doctors. The stretcher is taken to the corner of the courtyard, placed next to other bodies brought earlier. An hour ago he was alive "Perhaps he called his beloved. Maybe he has children. There must be those who love him and who will soon have to find out that their world is destroyed", - front-line photographers share.

 

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Publication from Kostyantyn and Vlad Liberov (@libkos)

Russian publics write that due to bad weather and problems with medical evacuation, the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Bakhmut increased tenfold,

"High losses of heavy armored vehicles in Bakhmut are forcing the Armed Forces of Ukraine to use medical vehicles as improvised armored personnel carriers, vehicles for transporting ammunition and assault equipment ... MT-LB S medical armored personnel carriers and British AT105 Saxon armored vehicles are used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to transport mortars and shells, which is why the problem with the removal of the wounded has passed into the critical stage. The lack of quick assistance has already led to multiple purulent-septic pathologies. The soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, without waiting for the evacuation, die from pain shock and sepsis right in the trenches"- пишет Telegram Military chronicle.

Both sides are burning munitions at a rate not seen since World War II

Returning to the NYT publication, it is worth noting that the publication highlights the Pentagon's concern that Ukrainians spend ammunition near Bakhmut "with unreasonable speed", mistakenly assuming that "ammunition stocks in the West are unlimited."

About this, by the way, the same The New York Times писал a few days earlier, noting that both sides were using arms and ammunition at a rate not seen since World War II, and the presence of weapons may be decisive in the present war.

“Now, nine months into the war, the fundamental unpreparedness of the West has sparked a frenzied rush to get Ukraine what it needs while resupplying NATO. As both sides burn arms and ammunition at a rate not seen since World War II, competition for upkeep arsenals at the proper level has become a critical front that could prove decisive for Ukraine's efforts.", - wrote the publication.

According to NATO officials, the amount of artillery used is amazing. NATO forces in Afghanistan could even release 300 artillery shells per day and not worry about air defense. But Ukraine can produce thousands of shells RμR¶RμRґRЅRμRІRЅRѕ.

Camilla Grand, defense expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, who until recently was NATO Assistant Secretary General for Defense Investment, says a day in Ukraine is like a month or more in Afghanistan., the publication says.

A senior NATO official told American journalists that last summer in the Donbass, Ukrainians released 6 to 000 artillery shells daily, and the Russians 40 to 000 shells per day... For comparison: The US produces only 15 shells per month.

“The Russians also have problems resupplying. They use fewer artillery shells now, but they have a lot of them, even if some of them are old and less reliable. Moscow is also trying to increase military production and is reportedly keen to buy missiles from North Korea.” and more cheap drones from Iran", according to the NYT.

According to According to from an analytical report by the Institute for the Study of War, the plans of the Russian army for the coming weeks include offensive operations in the Donetsk region. Experts have written about the intensification of fighting as additional mobilized military personnel arrive along with forces withdrawn from the western part of Kherson. And it is likely that over time they will be able to capture Bakhmut, but at a huge cost.

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