Russian forces claimed to have captured the devastated eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut over the weekend as Ukrainian military leaders acknowledged a strategic shift.
Kremlin leaders proclaimed they had overtaken the city on Saturday, 15 months into its war in Ukraine, though Ukrainian officials have said they are advancing on the outskirts of the city with the intent of encircling Russian troops within the town limits.
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“The Defense Forces have continued offensive operations on the flanks around Bakhmut. Although we now control the outskirts of the city, the defense is still important. In the future, this will give us the opportunity to enter the city when the operational situation at the front changes,” Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said on Telegram.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar echoed that sentiment, adding, “Our forces have taken the city in a semi-encirclement, which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy. … The enemy has to defend himself in the part of the city he controls.”
The once-vibrant city of Bakhmut has been destroyed through more than six months of intense clashes that officials described as a “meat grinder” due to the sheer number of casualties inflicted. The taking of Bakhmut would mark Moscow’s first big victory on the battlefield in nearly a year.
President Joe Biden said over the weekend Russia had suffered more than 100,000 casualties in Bakhmut while attending the G-7 Summit, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was also in attendance, compared the level of destruction in the city to the U.S.’s World War II atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima.
“I’ll tell you openly: Photographs of ruined Hiroshima absolutely remind me of Bakhmut and other similar settlements. Nothing left alive, all the buildings ruined,” the Ukrainian leader said on Sunday at the summit.
Biden, while at the summit, announced the latest military aid to Ukraine, valued at roughly $375 million. The package mostly includes ammunition and artillery resupplies for the weapons the U.S. has previously provided.
Ukraine’s biggest win, however, was the news that the U.S. would support a wide coalition of allies intent on training and ultimately providing Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, or fourth-generation fighter aircraft. Biden and U.S. defense officials had previously said they wouldn’t provide fighter aircraft to Ukraine, but like on other occasions, changed their stance.
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“As the training takes place over the coming months, our coalition of countries participating in this effort will decide when to actually provide jets, how many we will provide, and who will provide them,” a senior administration official told the Washington Examiner on Friday, noting that officials are hoping it will begin in the coming weeks and is expected to last a couple months.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko warned that the West is seeking to “continue to stick to an escalation scenario” in regards to the fighter jet agreement, according to state-run Russian news outlet Tass on Saturday.
