The summary of the 347th day on Bakhmut Front, as of 22:00 – 5th February 2023 (Kyiv time).
Due to the Russian advance in the area of Bakhmut, we’re releasing an extra summary solely focused on the Bakhmut Front. The classic summaries remain bi-daily.
Bakhmut Front
includes the vicinity of Bakhmut
- The enemy captured unspecified Ukrainian positions in the vicinity of Krasna Hora, likely on the outskirts of the town. (source)
Ukrainian General Staff reports repelled attacks in the vicinity of:
- Blahodatne, Krasna Hora, Paraskoviivka, Bakhmut, Ivanivske, Klishchiivka
Bakhmut City
the city of Bakhmut
- Wagner mercenaries advanced into the southern outskirts and captured several houses. They were eventually stopped and forced to retreat. (source)
- The situation in the north remains complicated. Wanger mercenaries pushed deeper into the Bakhmut, reached the Tavr Meat plant and captured a nearby school. (source)
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This summary and detailed maps are based on the following sources:
General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, official media channels of Ukrainian regional administrations, Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), geolocated footage and press releases of Russian Armed Forces, self-proclaimed DPR and LPR.
Some source announce Big russian offensive this week. In the North. To secure kremina/svatove.
Meteo plan one month of favorable condition.
For ukrain,oskyl river will probably be the main defense lign.
Control of siversk/ bilohirvka/ privyla will be important.
Wait and see.
I have a feeling that long announced offensive had already silently started. RuSSians thrown all they had mobilised recently into the first line and try to resume attacks along the fontline (from Dvorichne north to Zaporizhia south) to find the weak spots. Good for UA they found no weak places, but coming months we will see very bloody battles.
Yes on russian side, Big “Spring” offensive start with Epic fail in vulhedar.
But in North, position are better for russian. Here, ukrain fail to capture important tactical position.
Ukrain could not use the same tactic.
Nb: and dont forget that ukrain have lots of troops engaged nowhere.
North UA has several natural defence lines with Zherebec river being the first one. And sometimes you need to take one step backward to make 2 steps forward.
Today they repeated their “assault of Vuhledar”, complete fail 🙂
That is how their big offensive looks like, RuSSians are so dumb, luckily.
You have to count time, progress and people. The Russians can gain several kilometers in a month, losing 800-1000 men a day. This way the war will not be won! And in the spring – Ukraine’s counterattack. In the fall – the collapse of the Russian economy.
Regards.
Russian economy fell by 2.3% in 2022 and will grow by 0.3% in 2023, according to the IMF
Further to the comment of the Russian economy even the British intelligence now reports for every Russian soldier killed 4-6 Ukranian are lost. So in reality its probably even more Ukranian lives lost… I just don’t understand why people deny the reality. The war is lost. Peace is the only option to save the remaining Ukrainian soldiers.
Source?
You write pure bullshit, Igor.
If you want peace, that’s easy: leave Ukraine and get back to Russia !
cant leave Ukraine https://southfront.org/war-to-last-ukrainian-accelerates-pressgangs-kidnap-men-for-front-overview-videos/ they need the soldiers. it wasnt just the brits, turkey estimates the loses to be over 200k and leaked ukranian documents to western powers stated 275 kia a further 35k are reported missing presumed dead and another 17k captured. it was1 wounded to 2 dead
southfront.org doesn’t give any hints on their sources whatsoever
I would be so interested in seeing a link to this British intelligence report.
I do not understand the absolute focus on Bakhmut city and surroundings…. Why UKR forces does not get to back to Kramatorsk or Sloviansk to preserve their forces and fortify BIG cities ?
Let russians take ground and extend their supplies lines lengths, then hit this lines with artillery like it was done during this summer… times and lives are the most precious ressources for UKR
I have no idea, but take your pick:
– internal power struggle and political machinations
– to win time, use less valuable units for firefighting, while better units are being prepared in the meantime
– Ukrainian units refuse to retreat due to the overwhelming sense of patriotism
– retreating in order is not as trivial as it might seem from the couch and could result in much greater losses
Okay if it is the cases, why UKR do not mobilize 100 000 mens from the total 500 000 – 600 000 just to pierce the russian offensive in this particular town ??? I mean we hear a lot that the total of forces is about 700 000 people, lot of NATO equipments and russians recovered from captures and Izium / Kherson offensives… where are they deployed ?
Probably because holding Bakhmut is not worth it.
And concerning the question of where all the Ukrainian units really are deployed, that’s a good one (but I don’t have the answer).
And then what? You pierce the russian attack lines in or around Bachmut, and then? You are 2-5 km deep in enemy territory without logistics at a place with massive russian concentration of troups that prepare for an offensive. That’s suicide! The Ukrainians want to grind down as many russian troups as possible in Bachmut, and eventually will retreat once that’s done
No you oush forward with 100 000 men quickly to Donetsk city and cut all their supplies, use the remaining 200 000 to go to Melitopol and the other remaining to secure North Belarusian border and Kharkiv region, point… No need to be genius
Well, I am by no means a tactical genius or have advanced military insights, but I guess that if your options actually was an option, the Ukrainian command would do precisely that. More clever men may be able to explain you why
Don’t have to be clever for that.
The answer is quite simple. Logistics.
Then there is also intelligence, meaning Ru will know about such an offensive.
And also last but not least firepower, where Ru posses a big advantage.
Such an attack would lead to tens if not hundreds of thousands of casualties for Ukr. they might be able to push Russia away, but for a cost which would be unacceptable.
No need to be a genius to see it’s a stupid idea 🙂
I don’t think you realise the supply struggle this war is for both sides and the amount of troops and equipment deployed.
Russian have somewhere between 300k to 400k troops deployed in the occupied area, Ukraine has approximately the same number.
To make a breakthrough you need critical mass (x3 or x4 than your enemies).
This isnt a video game. Men arent just a number that you can just decide to throw away to their deaths unless you are Russia. Its easier to defend than to attack. Napoleon said that the attacking force has to have atleast 2x the amount of troops compared to the defender.
Have you seen the TOS-1A in action?
It is destroying ukr defence positions and troops.
How to lose the war speedrun any%
Look if you don’t understand how war works, then just don’t do such statements.
There is another reason: prestige. Ukrainians have repeatedly referred to Bakhmut as a impenetrable fortress (same was for Azovstal) meaning there is no retreat. Whether that makes sense or not from a military perspective is another question.
…and they are retreating now behind the river leaving hard to keep part of the town. As a symbol 4 month (roughly) siege made the Bakhmut ‘a fortress’ but that is more of the RU’s ‘my dick is bigger!’ attitude than a reality.
holding on will result in more losses as the troops defending will certainly die and cant get out due to roads cut off. but ukraine is just moving conscript soldiers in to those positions with blocking units so retreat wont happen and they are able to hold out for much longer whilst the superior forces set up a new defensive line. with out that they would just advance up faster but less deaths
Hasn’t the behavior you describe been documented for the RU army (e. g. Kherson, last summer)?
Do you want to state that RU army has an attitude not to make POWs at all given they are encircled?
russians did the opposite in kerson, they switched out the republics militia for para troopers that held the line, these got helicoptered out after the area was evacuated ,those abandoned apcs, those were the landing zones. ru troops sometimes risk their lives to capture pow, wagner however you need to surrender they wont ask but thats just what prygz said so the individual soldi wont feel the sam
It is my understanding that Ukraine is still pursuing a strategy of attrition against Russian forces wherever it is not able to be on the offensive or resist Russian assaults. Soledar is the most recent example. Bakhmut will, unfortunately, most likely be the next.
The Russian mobilization of last autumn has demonstrated its heavy operational consequences for Ukraine in recent weeks, forcing the latter to take a step backwards.
They probably start to retreat one week ago. (At least , to the river. ) Only one safe supply road, its dangerous. To retreat in good condition, they need 3 weeks. If they dont start now, the risk to retreat under artillery fire is high . Strategic point : its a very good meat grinder and this battle fix a lot of russian troop . Nb : after bakmut, they will just go in the… Read more »
There is tremors in Ukrainian leadership. The defences in Bahmut were fortified for 8 years. So it is the strongest defensive line. When it falls the war is lost. There is no time to build new close to it. But the amount of lives lost of defending it, is not adding up when it’s fate is sealed. Even US advised fall back… But Zelensky is more scared for his head than the Bahmut front…
You sound like a propagandist!
Bakhmut is a small fortress. At the begining of the battle, pro russian didnt consider it difficult to capture .
Kramatorsk/ sloviansk / chasiv yar is the main défense lign. And the hills between bakhmut and this lign are fortified.
Its not a secret, Ask to girkin.
RU is prone to falling for the ‘dick contest’ trap. Bakhmut is important yes, but not worth that kind of effort. Remember Mariupol? There was no need to allocate such amount of resources to siege that city and was dramaticly detrimental for the whole ‘liberation’ stuff. If they would just block the city instead storming the situation would be much more dire for UKR back then in March/April.
its about winning as much time to make this last and also just killing as many russians being a general burden, when you dont hold everything they would push up and make the entire front collapse. if it was about preserving lives this whole thing wouldnt be happening
Will summaries become daily again if the conflict gains a faster pace? Because i’m here waiting for these reports more passionately than i’d be for the new episodes of a TV series
If it happens, then yes.