Caused Russia To Lose Many Soldiers, President Zelensky Makes Sure Ukraine Defends Bakhmut

Ukrainian troops are in a protected ditch in Bakhmut. (Twitter/@DefenceU Viktor Borinets)

JAKARTA - President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview published on Sunday, Ukraine will maintain its defenses for months in the eastern city of Bakhmut, but still consider the price to be paid in the form of human lives.

President Zelensky was quoted by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera as a heated debate over whether outnumbered Kyiv troops should remain in the eastern Ukrainian city, which has been destroyed by Russian bombardment.

Bakhmut, on the front line of the Donetsk region, had a pre-war population of 70,000, but now Ukrainian officials estimate fewer than 5,000 civilians remain.

"Yes, it's not a very big city. In fact, like many other cities in Donbas, it (has been) destroyed by the Russians. It's important for us to defend it, but not at any cost, and not everyone is dead," President Zelensky told the Italian daily, according to Reuters on February 20.

Analysts say the city is of more symbolic than strategic value, as a gateway to towns further west in the Donetsk region.

President Zelensky said Russian commanders were determined to continue advancing on the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, further west in the Donetsk region "and as far as (the center of) Dnipro."

"We will fight and in the meantime prepare for the next counterattack," he said.

Russia launched its invasion a year ago, concentrating on securing control of the Donbass, which comprises the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, after initially failing to advance on the capital Kyiv.

Russian troops have been laying siege to Bakhmut since July when they captured two major towns further north. Spearheaded by the mercenary forces of the Russian Wagner Group, they are gaining additional advantages in the nearby villages and fighting has swept through the northern district in recent days.

But Ukrainian military analysts say the town, which is protected by a river and forest area, is of great significance in suppressing the occupying Russian forces.

"There is currently no reason for the Ukrainian military to leave Bakhmut. The city is not under siege," military analyst Oleksandr Kovaleno of the Ukrainian think tank Resistance to Information told the news website nv.ua.

"Bakhmut played an important role – served as a trap. For nine months the resources and means of the Russian occupying forces have been rising and they have been killed in large numbers. It must be regarded not as a bastion, but as a trap," he stressed.