Russian advance on Ukraine’s Bakhmut slowed by combat losses: analysis

The Russian military’s advance on the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut has slowed due to combat and equipment losses, making it difficult for Russian forces to maintain a high pace of offensive operations in the area, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Bridge on the Bakhmutka River destroyed after Russian shelling of Bakhmut, Ukraine, December 4, 2022.

PAP/Eugene Titov

The US think tank has reported that "growing personnel and munitions constraints" have forced Russia’s military to use squad-sized assault groups instead of larger units in the Bakhmut area in eastern Ukraine.

Russian troops attacking Bakhmut are no longer proceeding with battalion-sized tactical groups or companies, but with subunits of 10 to 15 soldiers, the Washington-based think tank said, citing Serhiy Cherevaty, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Eastern Group of Forces.

According to the ISW, this indicates that the invading Russian forces have been "degraded" and "may be nearing culmination."

Eastern #Ukraine: #Donetsk

Russian forces continued offensive operations around #Bakhmut, where combat losses are likely forcing the Russian military in the area to use squad-sized assault groups, an indication its forces there may be nearing culmination. https://t.co/PubC4GYvnK pic.twitter.com/6ABDcwBh4L

— ISW (@TheStudyofWar) December 28, 2022

The think tank wrote in its latest analysis of Russia's military campaign in Ukraine that Russian forces "similarly degenerated from company and battalion tactical groups to individual squad-sized groups" in Ukraine's southern Kherson region in August.

Wednesday marks 308 days since Russia started the war in Ukraine.

(jh/gs)

Source: PAP, ISW