Difference between revisions of "Battle of Bakhmut"
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[[File:Bakhmut defenders.PNG|right|300px|thumb|Bakhmut defenders.]] | [[File:Bakhmut defenders.PNG|right|300px|thumb|Bakhmut defenders.]] | ||
| − | The '''Battle of Bakhmut''' was one of two principal engagements | + | The '''Battle of Bakhmut''' was one of two principal engagements arising in the first year of the Russian [[Special Military Operation]] on the territory of [[Ukraine]] in 2022. The other being the [[Battle of Mariupol]]. |
The [[Battle of Severodonetsk-Lysychansk|battle for Severodonetsk-Lysychansk]] metropolitan area ended with the victory of Russian-led forces. [[AFU]] forces suffered about 7,000 casualties in the Battle of Severodonetsk-Lysychansk. The front line of Bakhmut/Artemovsk – Soledar-Seversk, also known as the Zelensky Line, became the new hotspot. On June 28, 2022 it was reported that the Ukrainians had amassed about 20,000 troops which had been withdrawn from several surrounding fronts around the town of Siversk (pop. 10,000) in the Northern [[Donetsk Republic]], between Izium and Lysychansk. Another 20,000 were reported around the Bakhmut fortress. | The [[Battle of Severodonetsk-Lysychansk|battle for Severodonetsk-Lysychansk]] metropolitan area ended with the victory of Russian-led forces. [[AFU]] forces suffered about 7,000 casualties in the Battle of Severodonetsk-Lysychansk. The front line of Bakhmut/Artemovsk – Soledar-Seversk, also known as the Zelensky Line, became the new hotspot. On June 28, 2022 it was reported that the Ukrainians had amassed about 20,000 troops which had been withdrawn from several surrounding fronts around the town of Siversk (pop. 10,000) in the Northern [[Donetsk Republic]], between Izium and Lysychansk. Another 20,000 were reported around the Bakhmut fortress. | ||
Revision as of 07:24, December 12, 2022
The Battle of Bakhmut was one of two principal engagements arising in the first year of the Russian Special Military Operation on the territory of Ukraine in 2022. The other being the Battle of Mariupol.
The battle for Severodonetsk-Lysychansk metropolitan area ended with the victory of Russian-led forces. AFU forces suffered about 7,000 casualties in the Battle of Severodonetsk-Lysychansk. The front line of Bakhmut/Artemovsk – Soledar-Seversk, also known as the Zelensky Line, became the new hotspot. On June 28, 2022 it was reported that the Ukrainians had amassed about 20,000 troops which had been withdrawn from several surrounding fronts around the town of Siversk (pop. 10,000) in the Northern Donetsk Republic, between Izium and Lysychansk. Another 20,000 were reported around the Bakhmut fortress.
Bakhmut-Soledar front
On August 1, 2022 Russian forces were reported to have entered the outskirts of Bakhmut (Russian: Artemovsk; pop. 72,000). The Ukrainian bunkers built around Bakhmut were likened to North Korean DMZ bunkers.[1] Ukrainian soldiers occupying Bakhmut reported that civilians in the city were anxious to fly the Russian flag.
On August 2, 2022 the Russians destroyed 130 members of the 58th mechanized brigade, and 70 members deserted and were arrested by Ukrainian forces.
On August 4, 2022 fighting was reported in the city of Bakhmut. With the Russian breakthroughs, the entire Ukrainian frontline began collapsing from Siversk to Soledar.
On August 6, 2022 Ukrainian forces were reported as destroying bridges in Bakhmut to slow the Russian advance.
On August 11, 2022 fighting in Bakhmut and Soledar was reported as some of the heaviest along the front. Russian and allied forces entered the industrial areas of these two cities first. Soledar has one of the largest salt mines in the world, which Ukrainian forces retreated into.
On August 13, 2922 the Russian MOD reported the destruction of the 7th of 16 HIMARs the U.S. sent to Ukraine.
The advance in Bakhmut was slowed because the city was heavily mined with illegal mines under international conventions of French manufacture.
On August 17, the Russian surge toward Bakhmut continued from the north and south. In Siversk, the Siversk cauldron was forming up.
On August 19, 2022 fighting was reported in the center of Soledar.
On August 25, 2022 a Ukrainian counterattack in Bakhmut, where Ukrainians existed in large numbers, failed.[2]
On September 19, 2022 the Russian MOD reported that "During the fighting in the area of the village of Zaitseve of the Donetsk People's Republic, the 24th battalion of the National Formation "Aidar"* of the 53rd mechanized brigade lost more than half of the personnel." Fighting was reported on the eastern portion, inside the city of Bakhmut.[3]
By September 24, 2022 Ukrainian forces began destroying the bridges in Bakhmut.
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On September 27, 2022 the Wagner group entered the settlement of Zaitseve.
By October 6, 2022 NATO/Ukraine had amassed about 30,000 forces around Bakhmut.
On October 10, 2022 unified Russians forces recaptured the village of Spirne.
According to LPR Gen. Viktor Vololatski, by mid-October 2022, 80% of the forces on Soledar-Bakhmut front were NATO and mercenaries, the bulk from former Warsaw Pact countries with Ukrainians constituting only 20% of the force.[4] Wagner forces continued making progress into the city of Bakhmut.
On October 18, 2022 the Russian MOD reported the destruction of three US-made AN/TPQ-37 and AN/TPQ-50 mobile missile radar finder systems in the areas of Bakhmut, Vyemka and Soledar.
On November 25, 2022 the Ukrainians lost 60 troops and 5 armoured vehicles. The AFU 58th Mechanized Brigade refused to fight.
On November 27, 2022 reports indicated that hospitals in Bakhmut were full with over 500 Ukrainian wounded and no chance to evacuate them. AT Chasiv Yar (pop. 12,000) slightly to the west of Bakhmut, the Russians killed 100 NATO forces and destroyed 6 armored vehicles.
By the first week of December 2022 Ukraine/NATO was losing approximately a battalion per day in Bakhmut. The head of the Wagner group Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that the Russians have the task of destroying the Ukrainian army and reducing its combat potential but not storming the city.