• On Friday, Russian artillery pounded the last routes out of Bakhmut.
• Ukrainian soldiers were repairing damaged roads, and more troops were heading to the frontlines.
• Bakhmut was previously known for its salt and gypsum mines.

On Friday, Russian artillery pounded the last routes out of Bakhmut, aiming to complete the encirclement of the besieged Ukrainian city and bring Moscow closer to its first major victory in half a year after the war’s bloodiest battle.

According to the commander of Russia‘s Wagner private army, the city, which has been blasted to ruins in Russia’s seven-month onslaught, is almost completely surrounded, with only one road remaining open for Ukrainian troops.

According to sources, Russia has been shelling routes leading west out of Bakhmut in an apparent attempt to block Ukrainian forces’ access in and out of the city. Russian tank shelling damaged a bridge in the nearby town of Khromove.

Ukrainian soldiers were repairing damaged roads, and more troops were heading to the frontlines, indicating that Ukraine was not yet ready to abandon the city. Ukrainians were digging new trenches for defensive positions to the west.

The Russian state news agency RIA released a video of Wagner fighters walking by a damaged industrial facility. According to one fighter, Ukraine’s army is destroying infrastructure in settlements near Bakhmut to prevent Russian encirclement.

On Friday, Ukraine’s ground forces commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, visited Bakhmut for briefings with local commanders on how to improve the defence capacity of frontline forces.

Denys Yaroslavskyi, commander of a Ukrainian army unit at Bakhmut, told a channel that parts of some units had been ordered to rotate to more secure positions, describing the situation as “a slaughterhouse on both sides” since the morning.

After calling up hundreds of thousands of reservists last year, a Russian victory in Bakhmut, with a pre-war population of about 70,000, would be the first major prize in a costly winter offensive. Russia claims it would be a step towards completing the capture of the Donbas industrial region, one of Moscow’s top priorities.

Bakhmut was previously known for its salt and gypsum mines. Ukraine claims the city has little strategic value, and Russia’s massive casualties in attempting to take Bakhmut may shape the course of the conflict.

‘PINCERS ARE SHUTTING DOWN’

“Units of the private military company Wagner have practically surrounded Bakhmut,” Wagner CEO Yevgeny Prigozhin stated in a video, which was shot on a rooftop in a village about 7 kilometres (4 miles) north of the city centre.

“Only one route (out) is left,” he said. “The pincers are closing.”

He urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to order a retreat from Bakhmut in order to save the lives of his soldiers. The camera pans to show three captured Ukrainians – a grey-bearded older man and two boys – pleading for their release.

In a video posted on social media, Robert Brovdi, the commander of a Ukrainian drone unit active in Bakhmut known as “Madyar,” stated that his unit had been ordered to withdraw immediately. He claimed to have been fighting for 110 days.

Volodymyr Nazarenko, a deputy commander in the National Guard of Ukraine, told Ukrainian Radio the situation was “critical”, with fighting “round the clock”.

“They take no account of their losses in trying to take the city by assault. The task of our forces in Bakhmut is to inflict as many losses on the enemy as possible. Every metre of Ukrainian land costs hundreds of lives to the enemy,” he said.

“There are many more Russians here than we have ammunition to destroy them.”

MORE ARMS IN THE US

Russia has been concerned about its own potential vulnerabilities in recent days, following the report of a number of drone attacks on targets deep within Russia, followed by an armed cross-border raid on Thursday.

On Friday, President Vladimir Putin told his Security Council that “anti-terrorism measures” must be strengthened.

Meanwhile, Zelenskiy paid a visit to wounded soldiers at a Lviv military hospital. One, shaking the president’s hand from bed, apologised for being unable to stand. “That’s OK,” Zelenskiy said. “The time will come and you will rise.”

During an evening video address in which he thanked troops for “firmly and bravely” defending the city, Zelenskiy gave no details about the fighting in Bakhmut.

In Washington, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced another round of military aid for Ukraine, worth $400 million in ammunition and other assistance.

Since Russia’s invasion on February 24, 2022, the US has provided nearly $32 billion in aid to Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden thanked visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his “profound” support for Ukraine at the White House. Scholz stressed the importance of sending the message that support for Ukraine will continue “as long as it takes and as long as is necessary.”

Following their meeting, the White House stated that the two reiterated their commitment to levying sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Germany manufactures Leopard tanks, which were promised in January and are expected to form the core of a new Ukrainian armoured force.

Some Western allies have criticised Scholz for taking a cautious public stance on arming Ukraine, despite the fact that he has overseen a significant shift in policy from a country that was Russia’s largest energy customer prior to the war.

Oleksii Makeiev, Ukraine’s ambassador in Berlin, stated that Germany is now taking a more active role in arming Ukraine.

Moscow accuses pro-Western Kiev of posing a security threat, despite the fact that it claims to have annexed nearly a fifth of Ukraine. Ukraine and its allies claim the invasion was an unprovoked conquest war.

On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States of hypocrisy, citing US military interventions around the world, after Blinken said Moscow cannot be allowed to wage war in Ukraine with impunity. The two men met briefly on the sidelines of a G20 meeting of foreign ministers in India.

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