FIERCE FIGHTING IS raging for control of the centre of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, the longest-running and bloodiest battle of Moscow’s invasion, Russian and Ukrainian forces have said.
Ukraine said that Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, which has claimed to be leading Moscow’s charge for the industrial city, was pushing forward in the city that has been the epicentre of fighting for months.
“Wagner assault units are advancing from several directions, trying to break through our troops’ defensive positions and move to the centre of the city,” the Ukrainian military said in a morning briefing.
“In fierce battles, our defenders are inflicting significant losses on the enemy,” it added.
Ukraine has said its strategy with the defence of Bakhmut is to degrade Russia’s ability to launch any further offensive in the coming months and buy time to ready its bid to recapture ground.
Analysts are divided over the strategic significance of Bakhmut as a military prize but the city has gained important political stature, with both sides pouring significant resources into the fight.
Bakhmut municipal officials today told Ukrainian media that there were still more than 4,000 people living in the town, including 33 children.
Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin also acknowledged that his forces were coming up against determined resistance as they sought to wrest control of the city’s centre.
“The situation in Bakhmut is difficult, very difficult. The enemy is battling for every metre,” Prigozhin said in a post on social media.
“The closer we are to the city centre, the more difficult the battles get and the more artillery there is… Ukrainians are throwing endless reserves (at the fight),” Prigozhin said.
Kyiv has cautioned the city’s fall would give Russian forces a clear path deeper into the Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claimed to have annexed to Russia last year.
Russia has reported painstaking gains around Bakhmut in recent weeks, making progress on encircling the city, but it has not made significant territorial gains in months.
The capture of the city would provide the Kremlin with a military win to sell to its domestic audience.
Nato warned last week that Bakhmut could fall within a matter of days while Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to continue to hold the city “as long as possible”.
Zelenskyy today published a decree posthumously awarding the highest state honour to a soldier killed by Russians after being taken prisoner near Bakhmut.
The soldier, Oleksandr Matsievsky, was videoed apparently being gunned down by Russian forces for saying “Glory to Ukraine”, in a video that went viral.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now more than a year old, has seen arms imports into Europe almost double in 2022, driven by massive shipments to Kyiv, which has become the world’s third-largest arms destination, researchers said today.
“The invasion has really caused a significant surge in demand for arms in Europe, which will have further effect and most likely will lead to increased arms imports by European states,” Pieter Wezeman, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), told AFP.
Russia’s attack has had “devastating” consequences for children in residential institutions, with thousands transferred to occupied territories or to Russia, Human Rights Watch also said today.
“This brutal war has starkly shown the need to end the perils faced by children who were institutionalised,” said Bill Van Esveld, associate children’s rights director at the New York-based organisation.
At least several thousand children have been transferred to Russia or occupied territories, the report said.
Meanwhile, Russia has agreed to extend the Ukraine grain export deal following talks with the United Nations today – but only for a further 60 days.
Moscow said it wanted to see “tangible progress” on a parallel agreement on Russian exports before the deal comes up for renewal again.
The grain export deal has helped ease the global food crisis triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year. The invasion saw Ukraine’s Black Sea ports blocked by warships until a deal signed in July allowed for the safe passage of exports of critical grain supplies.
More than 24.1 million tonnes have been exported under the UN and Turkey-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI), according to the United Nations.
The initial 120-day agreement was extended once in November, and was due to expire on 18 March, and the Kremlin had cast doubt on whether it would agree to a fresh extension, claiming that the twin deal on Russian exports was not being respected.
Moscow wants to see deeds, not words on upholding this second part of the package, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said after concluding the talks with top United Nations officials at the Palais des Nations UN headquarters in Geneva.
“The Russian side… does not object to another extension of the ‘Black Sea Initiative’ after its second term expiration on 18 March, but only for 60 days,” Vershinin said in a statement issued by the Russian mission in Geneva.
“Our further stance will be determined upon the tangible progress on normalisation of our agricultural exports, not (in) words, but in deeds.
“It includes bank payments, transport logistics, insurance, ‘unfreezing’ of financial activities and ammonia supplies via the Tolyatti-Odessa pipeline.”
Vershinin led the Russian delegation in talks with UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths and Rebeca Grynspan, head of the UN’s trade and development agency UNCTAD.
While the BSGI concerns the export of Ukrainian grain, the second agreement, between Moscow and the UN, is intended to facilitate the export of Russian food and fertilisers, which are exempt from Western sanctions imposed on Moscow.
“The comprehensive and frank conversation has once again confirmed that while the commercial export of Ukrainian products is carried out at a steady pace, bringing considerable profits to Kyiv, restrictions on the Russian agricultural exporters are still in place,” Vershinin said.
“The sanctions exemptions for food and fertilisers announced by Washington, Brussels and London are essentially inactive.”
Nearly half of the exports shipped under the BSGI deal are corn and more than a quarter are wheat, according to UN data.
Around 45% of the exports went to developed countries. The biggest recipient was China, followed by Spain, Turkey, Italy and the Netherlands.
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