The battle for Bakhmut, a city in the Donbass region with a population of 70,000 before the war, remains one of the bloodiest in the Ukraine conflict. Up to 30,000 Russian fighters and several thousand Ukrainian soldiers were reportedly killed between July 2022 and May 20, 2023, when former Wagner chief, Evgeny Prigozhin — who died a few months later in a mysterious plane crash — announced the capture of the city.
Three years after the fall of Bakhmut, the Russian army has only advanced 10 kilometers to the west.
- The Kremlin portrayed the city’s fall as a “major historic victory,” claiming it would pave the way for capturing Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, two strongholds located a few dozen kilometers to the northwest.
- Prigozhin highlighted the use of “disposable infantry” by Russia for months, sending waves of soldiers against Ukrainian defenses to identify their firing positions.
- Within Wagner, several veterans who survived the battle were awarded a medal inscribed with “The Bakhmut Meat Grinder.”
The strategy employed by the Russian army and Wagner in Bakhmut marked a new phase in the war, characterized by cycles of attrition impacting soldiers, artillery ammunition, armored vehicles, and later, missiles and drones. While the Russian army continues to suffer significant human losses — estimated at 25,000 to 35,000 men per month — the dominance of drones has made infantry assaults like those in Bakhmut or Avdiivka, 50 kilometers to the southwest, impossible for Moscow.
The distance between the front lines in the Bakhmut sector three years apart demonstrates the deadlock the Russian army faces in Ukraine.
- Maps from the Ukrainian analyst network Deep State shows that as of May 20, they were 9.5 kilometers to the west, in the city of Chasov Yar.
- In Paris, this is the distance between La Defense and Ile de la Cite; in Madrid, Parque del Retiro to the western edge of Casa de Campo; in Berlin, Schloss Charlottenburg to the East Side Gallery.
- While the area between the two cities is universally recognized as under Russian control, Ukrainian drone and artillery strikes regularly target Russian vehicles and units.
Since capturing Bakhmut, the Russian army has failed to significantly advance towards the fortresses of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, and still struggles to encircle Kostiantynivka, a city about forty kilometers northeast of Pokrovsk.
- During Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing, a few days before Vladimir Putin’s visit, Xi Jinping reportedly told the American president that Putin “might come to regret his invasion of Ukraine.”
- China is a key supporter of Moscow’s war efforts, alongside North Korea, particularly through the export of dual-use goods.
