The Armed Forces of Ukraine may be forced to withdraw from Artemovsk (the Ukrainian name of the city is Bakhmut). Bloomberg writes about this , citing American and European officials.
“In order to gather resources for a spring offensive in the south, Ukraine may soon have to withdraw its troops from the eastern city of Bakhmut <…>, giving Russia a symbolic victory,” the sources of the publication note. ( The day before, the assistant to the acting head of the DPR Denis Pushilin, Yan Gagin , announced the operational encirclement of Artemovsk – approx. T-i ).
The fact is that, according to one of the interlocutors of the agency, the United States advises the Ukrainian authorities to buy time to wait for the delivery of main battle tanks and other weapons. And the tanks that intend to hand over to Western countries may not appear on the battlefield until late spring .
However, Western officials are confident that a hypothetical retreat will not have a serious impact on the course of hostilities. A senior U.S. official suggested that Ukrainian troops would place new lines of defense very close to the current front line.
Going forward, both sides are likely to seek to use the element of surprise, which means that the time and place of their attacks will change depending on the development of the situation, the agency notes.
A senior U.S. official said it was unlikely that Ukraine would be able to occupy Crimea anytime soon, adding that Kiev was focusing on more urgent, but rather complex, targets. However, if by the end of the summer the Ukrainian side manages to take Melitopol, this will create serious difficulties for the Russian command.
The special military operation has been ongoing since February 24, 2022. It was initiated by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin .