(ANSA) - ROME, MARCH 06 - Bakhmut has more symbolic than operational importance and his eventual fall would not necessarily give an impetus to Moscow's war effort in Ukraine: said the US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, during his visit to Jordan .
The Guardian reports it.
"I think it has more of a symbolic value than a strategic and operational one," Austin said referring to the besieged city.
Austin didn't predict when - or if - it would be taken by Russian forces, but added: "The fall of Bakhmut will not necessarily mean that the Russians will have turned the tide of this battle."
(HANDLE).