Russia struggling in Bakhmut as casualties mount

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 04 Jan 2023 by Alex Teddy
On January 3 Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Russian TV that fighting in Bakhmut is very difficult. Prigozhin is the head of Wagner Private Military Company. Wagner fights alongside the Russian Army. Prigozhin said that the Ukrainians had built excellent defenses. It is house by house fighting. He did not say that Russia would win soon. Ukrainian defense is more skillful and spirited than the Russians had anticipated. Russia has been fighting to take Bakhmut since May 2021. At first fighting was low intensity. But fighting heated up in December 2022 when it became the fulcrum of the war. Western analysts are perplexed as to why Russia considers the city vital. Only 10 000 of its 70 000 inhabitants are left. Wagner used to be elite: only recruiting soldiers with over 10 years experience. Its troops were Russians, Belarusians and Serbians. But in 2022 it started to recruit men from Russian prisons and those who had never been in the army. It has recruited men from other former USSR states. On January 3 Russia said the death toll from a missile strike on Russian troops in Makiivka is now 89. It was originally announced as 63 but some have since died of wounds and more bodies have been recovered from the ruins since the January 1 attack. Ukraine claims to have killed 400 Russians by using HIMAR rockets on a Russian Army base that also contained munitions. This has put a real dampener on the New Year festive season. The Defense Ministry said the Ukrainians were able to pinpoint the troop concentration  by tracking mobile phone use. Troops are not allowed to use their phones in the field. Ukraine said that this was how it located the Russians but this might be disinformation to co...

Now read on...

Register to sample a report

Register
Sign-in
Forgot your password?
Copyright 2024 GlobalSource Partners. All rights reserved. This is prepared for GlobalSource Partners’ clients and may not be redistributed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, retransmitted or disclosed, in whole or in part, or in any form or manner, without the express written consent of GlobalSource Partners. This is distributed simultaneously to our website and other portals used by GlobalSource Partners. The information herein was obtained from various sources and is believed to be reliable but GlobalSource Partners does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Neither GlobalSource Partners nor any Country Analyst, officer or employee accepts any liability whatsoever for any direct, indirect or consequential damages or losses rising from any use of this or its contents.