“We are moving forward,” Shiryaev said after one drone photograph showed a Russian jet being shot down by Ukraine.
“We fight for every tree, trench, and dugout.”
Ukrainian battalion commander Oleg Shiryaev, who was watching imagery from a drone camera overhead, alerted his men in nearby trenches.
he told them that Russian forces were advancing across a field toward a patch of trees outside the city of Bakhmut.
The commander of the 228th Battalion of the 127th Kharkiv Territorial Defense Brigade then directed the formation of a mortar crew. A target has been set.
An explosion carved a new crater in an already pockmarked mountainside, and a mortar tube emitted a loud orange blast.
A New Phase Of Conflict
“We are moving forward,” Shiryaev said after one drone photograph showed a Russian jet being shot down. “We fight for every tree, trench, and dugout.”
Last month, Russian forces declared victory in the eastern city.
The came after the worst combat since their full-scale invasion of Ukraine began 15 months ago.
But defenders in Ukraine, like Shiryaev, are not backing down. Instead, they are maintaining pressure and fighting from positions on the western outskirts of Bakhmut.
The retaliation gives Moscow commanders something else to consider about ahead of the much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive, which appears to be taking form.
According to Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister, Hanna Maliar, Russia is attempting to establish an atmosphere of calm surrounding Bakhmut, although artillery firing continues at levels comparable to those seen after the city’s capture.
She claims that the conflict has entered a new phase.
“The battle for the Bakhmut area hasn’t stopped; it’s just taking different forms. Maliar said in an interview from a military media center in Kyiv, clothed in her trademark fatigues.
“Russian soldiers are currently attempting – but failing – to drive Ukrainian fighters from the “dominant heights” overlooking Bakhmut.
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“We’re holding them very tightly,” she explained.
According to the Kremlin, the area around Bakhmut is only a small section of the Russian military’s 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) front line.
A Partial Accomplishment
The evacuation of mercenaries from private military contractor Wagner Group, who assisted in taking control of the city, may make this mission more difficult.
They will be replaced by Russian troops.
Officials said that Ukrainian forces’ recent action has been opportunistic attempting to wrest tiny gains from the enemy and seizing vital areas, most notably from two flanks on the northwest and southwest, where the Ukrainian 3rd Separate Assault Brigade has been engaged.
Russia saw the conquest of Bakhmut as a partial accomplishment of its desire to seize control of Ukraine’s industrial heartland, the eastern Donbas region.
Its soldiers have now been forced to regroup, rotate warriors, and rearm in order to keep the city.
Wagner’s owner announced a withdrawal after losing more than 20,000 of his men.
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The fate of Bakhmut, which is mostly in ruins, has been overshadowed in recent days by near-daily attacks on Kyiv.
There are series of unclaimed drone strikes near Moscow, and growing speculation that Ukraine’s government will try to retake terrain.
However, the war for the city may have long-term consequences. Moscow has capitalized on its takeover, as seen by triumphalism in Russian media.
Any loosening of Russia’s control would be a political disaster for President Vladimir Putin.
