?????? The battle of Bakhmut, in its decisive hours

The?battle of Bakhmut?seems to?have entered its crucial hours. The?Wagner Group?mercenaries, who provide the men, and the?Russian government, which provides the weaponry, have managed to exert a suffocating pressure on the Ukrainian troops during recent weeks. Despite this,?Kyiv still retains control of the most important road?in the city, which allows them to maintain their war effort.

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For their part, the mercenaries of the Wagner Group are openly complaining that?the Russian government is not delivering ammunition to them in the agreed quantity and timeframe, which has been a major setback. It is known, and we have told you on VisualPolitik as well as in this bulletin, that?the Russian military industry is having serious difficulties manufacturing equipment in the quantity demanded?by the army due to international sanctions and the low productivity of Russian arms companies.

Why is it important?

Bakhmut has become a?bloody battle of attrition?despite not being of great value from a strategic point of view. The direct consequence is that?casualties are in the thousands on both sides. However, neither Russia nor Ukraine seems to be willing to withdraw for the time being. On the one hand,?the Kremlin wants to present a victory?that has eluded it for months and thereby break Ukraine's spirit of resistance.

For their part, senior military commanders who are managing the Donbass operations believe that Russia may be?reaching an extreme level of fatigue and weakness. That is, they seem to believe that Bakhmut may become their own Stalingrad. Or, in the worst case scenario,?a Pyrrhic victory for Russia?facilitating its spring counter-offensives.

Be that as it may, the Ukrainian resistance in a city publicly declared and promised for months by Russian propaganda is contributing to?undermine Vladimir Putin's credibility: at this moment nobody can doubt that Bakhmut is indeed a clear and priority target for the Kremlin and that, nevertheless, the Russians are unable to complete its capture. A defeat in such a symbolic place could even?accelerate the hypothetical fall of the Russian dictator.