Bachmut shows: Disproportionate effort in war - Russia's wasteful tactics

Created: 04/12/2022, 21:49

A Ukrainian position in the Bakhmut region.

© IMAGO/Erik Prozes

The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut has been the scene of heavy fighting in recent days.

Experts now estimate that Russia has miscalculated.

Bachmut - In the Ukraine war, battles are taking place again in eastern Ukraine.

According to British military experts, the Russian troops on the ground have engaged in a disproportionately costly battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

The advantage of capturing the city in the Donetsk region, with a population of about 70,000, is not in proportion to the price Moscow is paying for it, the Defense Ministry's daily intelligence update on the Ukraine war said in London on Saturday.

Ukraine war: Bachmut only of “limited operational value”

Much of Russia's effort and firepower has been focused on a roughly 15-kilometer sector of a trench-fortified front since August, the statement said.

The plan is probably to encircle the city.

There has been little progress in the south.

Although taking Bakhmut would give Russia an opportunity to threaten major urban centers such as the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, it would only be of "limited operational value," the British added.

It is therefore a realistic possibility that the capture of the city has become primarily a symbolic, political goal for the Kremlin.

Ukraine war: Russia returns to wasteful tactics

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has analyzed the Russian actions in the Bakhmut region.

The institute concluded that Russian tactics on the ground are wearing down Russian resources without making any corresponding progress.

This phenomenon has already been observed during offensives in Sievjerodonetsk and Lysychansk.

Ukrainian strategists may have tried to take advantage of this, allowing Russia to waste a lot of material on strategically irrelevant locations as early as June and July.

According to the institute, the Ukrainian calculation worked.

Russia was able to take the cities, but did not gain a strategic advantage and had to spend significant amounts of material.