The US and its allies urge Ukraine to alter its military strategy

• Western allies have recently committed billions of dollars in new military hardware.
• This new offensive would make use of this new military equipment.
• The city has been nearly completely destroyed by heavy shelling.

According to US and Ukrainian officials, Western allies have recently committed billions of dollars in new military hardware, and they are urging Ukraine to prioritize this offensive in the south rather than the brutal, months-long conflict in the eastern city of Bakhmut. This new offensive would make use of this new military equipment.

Approximately 36 kilometers of land in Bakhmut, which is situated between the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk that are seized by separatists, has been the scene of a standoff between Ukrainian and Russian soldiers for nearly six months. The city has been nearly completely destroyed by heavy shelling.

“It is a brutal and grinding fight,” a senior Western intelligence official said last week, with each side exchanging anywhere from 100-400 meters of land per day and exchanging several thousands of artillery rounds almost daily. “[Bakhmut] is less attractive militarily, in terms of any sort of infrastructure, than it might have been if it had not been this destroyed.”

Now, according to US and Western authorities, there is a tactical opportunity before what is anticipated to be a devastating spring of fighting. They have been recommending recently that Ukrainian forces withdraw from Bakhmut, where they claim there is little strategic value for Ukraine, and concentrate instead on preparing an operation in the south.

Three high-ranking Biden representatives visited Kyiv last week and delivered a message that included some of that.

Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said the US wants to assist Ukraine in moving away from the type of pitched battle of attrition taking place in Bakhmut and concentrating instead on a style of mechanized manoeuvre warfare that uses rapid, unexpected movements against Russia in a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to sources familiar with their conversation.

According to officials, the hundreds of armored vehicles that the US and other European nations have recently given to Ukraine, including 14 British tanks, are intended to aid in that transition.

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