NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned on Wednesday that the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut might fall to Russia in the coming days after months of intense fighting.
His comments came as the Russian Wagner mercenary group, which has been leading the assault on Bakhmut, announced that it had taken control of the industrial town’s eastern bank. Bakhmut has been devastated by the longest battle since Moscow invaded Ukraine a year ago.
Wagner commander and Kremlin supporter Yevgeny Prigozhin announced on social media on Wednesday that his troops “have taken all of the eastern part of Bakhmut,” a salt-mining town that was home to 80,000 people before the war.
Russia’s over a year-long invasion has devastated large swaths of Ukraine and displaced millions of people. The intense fighting around Bakhmut has been the longest and bloodiest of this conflict.
To make up for what they lack in quality, Russia is “throwing more troops, more forces,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Stockholm on the sidelines of a meeting of EU defense ministers.
The head of the US-led military alliance said, “We cannot rule out that Bakhmut may eventually fall in the coming days,” adding, “this does not necessarily reflect any turning point of the war.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in an interview with CNN of what could happen if Bakhmut falls to Russian forces.
“We understand that after Bakhmut, (Russian forces) could go further” and attack nearby cities in the Donetsk region, he said.
It would be an open road for the Russians after Bakhmut to other towns in Ukraine, in the Donetsk direction, Zelensky said in an interview that will air on Wednesday. “They could go to Kramatorsk, they could go to Sloviansk,” he added.
U.S. Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Wednesday the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut might fall to Russia in the coming days following months of intense fighting.
His remarks came as Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, which has spearheaded the attack on Bakhmut, claimed to have captured the eastern bank of the industrial town, devastated in the longest battle since Moscow invaded Ukraine a year ago.
On Wednesday, Wagner chief and Kremlin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin posted on social media that his forces “have taken all of the eastern part of Bakhmut,” a salt-mining town with an estimated pre-war population of 80,000.
The intense fighting around Bakhmut has been the longest and bloodiest in Russia’s more than year-long invasion, which has devastated swathes of Ukraine and displaced millions of people.
“What we see is that Russia is throwing more troops, more forces and what Russia lacks in quality they try to make up in quantity,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Stockholm on the sidelines of an EU defense ministers meeting.
The head of the US-led military alliance stated, “We cannot rule out that Bakhmut may eventually fall in the coming days.” However, he also stated, “this does not necessarily reflect any turning point of the war.”
In an interview with CNN, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed concern about the consequences of a Russian takeover of Bakhmut.
“We understand that after Bakhmut, (Russian forces) could go further” and attack nearby cities in the Donetsk region, he said.
“They could go to Kramatorsk, they could go to Sloviansk, it would be an open road for the Russians after Bakhmut to other towns in Ukraine, in the Donetsk direction,” Zelensky said in an interview set to air Wednesday.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told military officials during a televised meeting on Tuesday that taking control of the city would allow for “further offensive operations” in eastern Ukraine.
According to Prigozhin, the remaining Ukrainian defenders of the city number between 12,000 and 20,000.
According to CNN, Zelensky’s armed forces are set on remaining in Bakhmut.
Certainly, we need to take into account the safety of our armed forces. But we have to do whatever we can whilst we’re getting weapons, supplies, and our army is getting ready for the counter-offensive.”
On his third trip to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, UN chief Antonio Guterres met with Zelensky in Kyiv on Wednesday. The agreement that has allowed Ukraine to export its grain is set to expire, and Guterres has emphasized the need to extend it.
Guterres emphasized the significance of March 18th’s Black Sea Grain Initiative handover.
EU defense ministers were meeting in Stockholm to discuss a plan to rush one billion euros’ worth of ammunition to Ukraine as pressure mounts on Kyiv’s allies to bolster supplies to the war effort.
Kyiv is reportedly running low on 155mm howitzer shells despite firing thousands per day in its fight against the slogging Russian offensive, according to Ukraine’s Western backers.
On March 8, 2023, a tank from Ukraine opened fire on Russian positions near Bakhmut, Ukraine. Photo by AP’s Evgeniy Maloletka.
“We need to ramp up production because the current rate of consumption compared to the current rate of production of ammunition is not sustainable,” Stoltenberg said.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that US officials had seen new intelligence suggesting that a “pro-Ukrainian group” was responsible for the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year. This could raise difficult questions among the allies.
“This is not our activity,” Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov told reporters in Stockholm.
Zelensky urged US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to visit Ukraine to “see for himself what the war is like” in an interview with CNN. However, McCarthy has repeatedly warned that Congress should not write “blank checks” to support the war without careful review.
Mr. McCarthy, he has to come here to see how we function, what is happening here, what war has caused us, which people are fighting now, and who is fighting now. As Zelensky put it, “make your assumptions after that.”
On Wednesday, Ukraine claimed it had positively identified the man killed in the viral video as one of its soldiers.
In the clip, what appears to be a captured Ukrainian soldier can be seen smoking in a shallow trench before he is shot while shouting “Glory to Ukraine.”
“Based on preliminary examination, we believe that the video may be authentic,” a UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman told AFP on Wednesday.
