: Why Russia Is So Determined To Capture Bakhmut #WorldNEWS As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches the one-year mark, all eyes are trained on one small, war-ravaged city: Bakhmut. There, in

Why Russia Is So Determined To Capture Bakhmut #WorldNEWS
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches the one-year mark, all eyes are trained on one small, war-ravaged city: Bakhmut. There, in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, is where one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles of the war is currently playing out as Russia tries to achieve its first major battlefield victory since its capture of the eastern cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk over the summer.
Although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the situation on the frontline as “very difficult” in his Sunday evening address to Ukrainian citizens, Russian forces have yet to encircle the city.
This months-long battle for Bakhmut has come at the cost of hundreds of Ukrainian and Russian casualties per day, according to some estimates, as well as the city of Bakhmut itself. “Burnt ruins” is how Zelensky described it during one of his nightly addresses in December, the outcome of what has been likened to World War I-style trench warfare.

Russia’s offensive on eastern Ukraine, parts of which Moscow purported to annex in September, reflects Vladimir Putin’s long-held aim of capturing Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, collectively known as the Donbas—a tall order that Russian troops have been tasked with achieving by March, according to Ukrainian officials.
Yehor Cherniev, a Ukrainian lawmaker and head of the Ukrainian delegation to the NATO parliamentary assembly, tells TIME that although Bakhmut “is not of strategic importance” to Kyiv, they will nonetheless “try to hold it as long as possible. ”
“We are gradually grinding down the most combat-ready units of the Russians,” says Cherniev. “Regardless of the future fate of Bakhmut, we managed to win precious time. In our next counter-offensive campaign, we will return much more. ”
Here’s what to know about Bakhmut and its potential impact on the war.
What is the history of Bakhmut?
Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, this small city was home to a salt mining industry, a non-ferrous metal plant, a winery, and more than 70,000 people. Though it takes its name from the Bakhmutovka river, it was renamed Artyomovsk during the Soviet era, which stuck until 2016 when its original name was restored as part of Ukraine’s “decommunization” effort.
For residents of Bakhmut, their time on the frontlines didn’t begin in 2022, but in 2014, when fighting ensued between Ukraine and Russian-based separatists in the Donbas. Today, less than 1% of Bakhmut’s pre-war population remains in the city, living without power, water, or heating.