How Bakhmut became a pivot in the Ukraine war

Why Bakhmut?

The city of Bakhmut is of dubious strategic importance to Russia; it was already cut off by Russian occupied areas to the north and south so was contributing little to Ukrainian supply lines. However, it could be a necessary stepping stone for Russia on the path to taking Sloviansk, and Kramatorsk, two medium-sized cities which if taken would give Russia control of most of the Donetsk region.

The strategic imperative to hold Bakhmut before attempting to move on Sloviansk and Kramatorsk became more pressing after the Kharkiv counteroffensive secured the cities' northern approaches for Ukraine.

The lie of the land

Bakhmut sits in a dell between a number of ridges. In the gaps between the ridges run railways, roads and a river, mostly running north-south through the city. Due west, the ground rises again, separating Bakhmut from the main Donetsk-Kramatorsk road. To the north-west, the M03 motorway runs to Sloviansk.

The heights

To the east the ground rises fairly uniformly behind the town's winery. To the west, there are three main ridges – one to the south-west behind the suburb of Ivanivske, one to the west behind a reservoir and racetrack at Khromove, and one to the north-west behind Berkhivka.

The winter offensive

As the war entered its second phase, and the Russians were pushed back from Kharkiv and put under pressure in Kherson, they began to advance toward Bakhmut. By January, they had taken Soledar to the north, and – after some back and forth – largely controlled the high ground to the east.

The ‘meat grinder’

With Russian troops controlling the heights to the east, and Ukrainian troops still holding the high ground to the west, the city itself was dangerously exposed to largely indiscriminate artillery fire from both sides; Yevgeny Prigozhin called it "the meat grinder". Shelling largely reduced the town to rubble, but both sides continued to contest the ground fiercely.

By the beginning of summer, after a gruelling street-by-street battle, Russia claimed to have secured the centre of the city, but continued counterstrikes by Ukraine had the effect of easing – or perhaps beginning to reverse – the encirclement. Ukrainian troops held on to positions on the western ridges and moved into low-lying land behind them.

Contested capture

As Russian officials said they had begun demining Bakhmut – to signal the claimed permanence of its capture – Ukraine's deputy defence minister remained sanguine about the city, saying home forces held high ground to north and south.

Counterstrike

With the city "secure" Prigozhin said he would move his Wagner units out, to be replaced by regular Russian forces. But as Ukraine prepared for a counteroffensive in the south, its units also began to make headway around Bakhmut, seizing a number of small villages. The deputy defence minister said: "We're in a good position in Bakhmut. We command the strategic heights.”

The same day, Prigozhin himself announced that the Ukrainians had entered Berkhivka to the north, a development which increased the threat to Russian units in Bakhmut, and which he described as "a disgrace". He would come to refer to the experience of Bakhmut often as his stance moved from disgruntlement to armed rebellion.

Since the end of May, Ukrainian troops have continued to probe outlying villages to the north and south of Bakhmut, all the while controlling the western heights, but without making a decisive move for the city. Arguably, it makes more sense to keep a large Russian force pinned down there than to risk casualties in attacking a symbolic target.