Ukrainians blow up two bridges near Bakhmut to cut off retreat routes for russian troops – ISW

In the Donetsk region, Ukrainian units blew up two bridges in the area near the city of Bakhmut, although some Western media considered one of the bridges to be damaged by russian troops.

Rubryka informs about this, referring to the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) report.

Analysts report that on March 3, russian forces continued ground attacks around Bakhmut. Although at this time, russian propagandists promoted narratives about the alleged intention of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to conduct a controlled retreat. At least from some parts of the city.

The Ukrainian General Staff reported that the Defense Forces repelled enemy attacks on Bakhmut itself, as well as in the area near villages of Vasyukivka (13 km north of the city),  Dubovo-Vasylivka (6 km to the northwest), Orihovo-Vasylivka (10 km north of the city), Hryhorivka (10 km to the northwest) and Bohdanivka (8 km to the northwest).

Experts also believe the Ukrainian military intends to cut off the enemy's potential retreat routes by blowing up bridges.

Geolocation footage released on Friday shows Ukrainian soldiers destroying a bridge over the Bakhmutivka River in the northeast of the city. And also another bridge across the Khromove-Bakhmut highway to the west of it.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the "Wagner" Private Military Company (a Russian paramilitary organization, a network of mercenaries, or a de facto private army of russian president vladimir putin. The "Wagner" Group was recognized as an international criminal organization by the Ukrainian Parliament and the US Treasury – ed.), claimed that his forces had almost completely "surrounded Bakhmut." Therefore, the Ukrainian troops can only realistically withdraw in one way.

At the same time, russian bloggers claimed that fighting continues in the north of Bakhmut in the area of the AZOM industrial enterprise and also in the urban areas of the southern and eastern parts of the settlement.

Military experts believe that Ukrainian forces appear to be creating conditions for a controlled withdrawal from Bakhmut.

According to their assumption, the pre-emptive destruction of the bridges indicates that the Ukrainian troops may try to prevent the movement of russian troops in the eastern part of Bakhmut and limit the potential routes of the enemy's withdrawal from the city to the west.

Photo: Map

"If the Ukrainian military command deems it necessary to withdraw from Bakhmut, it will likely conduct a limited and controlled withdrawal from particularly difficult sectors of eastern Bakhmut, " the ISW emphasized.

It should be noted that the Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar stressed that the situation in Bakhmut was "tense and difficult, and we do not hide the fact that there are fierce battles."

She added that in the direction of Bakhmut, the enemy was trying to gather mercenaries from the "Wagner" Private Military Company because the regular troops of the russian federation were already exhausted and demotivated.

As Rubryka wrote, Serhiy Cherevaty, Spokesman for the Eastern Group of Ukraine's Armed Forces, said that the Ukrainian defense forces would not retreat from Bakhmut in Donetsk.

British intelligence believes that the weather probably favors Ukrainian soldiers in the battles for Bakhmut.