According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) Russian forces have surrounded Ukrainian forces who have gained a “positional advantage.”
The US thinktank said that Russian forces are now in a position which allows then to conduct a “turning movement” in parts of the salt mining city.
“The Russians may have intended to encircle Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut, but the Ukrainian command has signalled that it will likely withdraw rather than risk an encirclement,” the ISW added.
They said that it is likely Ukrainian forces are “conducting a limited tactical withdrawal” in Bakhmut and that they could be exiting on the eastern bank of the Bakhmutka River, but it is still too early asses their full intention.
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Wagner mercenaries are making good gains in their advance and the city is now the focal point for Ukrainian troops to destroy as much of Russian’s forces as they can.
The US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said should Bakhmut fall into Russian hands this will not turn the tide of the war as it is more of a symbolic importance for Vladimir Putin.
The Pentagon official said, “I think it is more of a symbolic value than it is strategic and operational value.
“The fall of Bakhmut won’t necessarily mean that the Russians have changed the tide of this fight.”
Austin added that he will not predict whether or when Bakhmut could fall into Moscow’s hands.
The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that Russian reservists have been armed with “firearms and shovels” to assault the Ukrainian “concrete strong point.”
The MoD said the shovels are likely “entrenching tools being employed for hand-to-hand combat” and the MPL-50 entrenching tool was first designed in 1869 and it is used for “brutal and low-tech fighting.”
In their intelligence update on Sunday the MoD said one Russian reservist had described being “neither physically nor psychologically prepared for the action” in Ukraine.
The MoD added that close fighting is increasing on the frontline, which could be as a result that Russia is running low on munitions.
The MoD added, “Recent evidence suggests an increase in close combat in Ukraine.
“This is probably a result of the Russian command continuing to insist on offensive action largely consisting of dismounted infantry, with less support from artillery fire because Russia is short of munitions.”
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