A wasteland city as Kyiv vows to dig in
Kyiv: While Ukraine vows to defend the besieged town of Bakhmut, chilling vision has emerged showing an entire city destroyed and reduced to matchsticks by relentless Russian shelling.
The charred ruins of the city of Maryinka in the Donetsk region where 10,000 people once lived are now left uninhabitable, with every building and tree razed to the ground and reduced to rubble and stumps.
Maryinka’s police chief, Artem Schus said Russian troops are continuing to blast the ruins to “destroy all cover, regardless of whether it is a civilian shelter or a military facility.”
He said his city is “completely destroyed.” .
The area had been evacuated as there was “no way for the civilian population to live there,” he said.
“They destroy everything because, with their tactics, they cannot defeat our troops, and resort to the destruction of all living things.”
Desperate to avoid a similar fate in Bakhmut, Ukraine has pledged to bolster its defences in the town after reports that Kyiv was withdrawing from the city that has become a symbolic prize in the war.
President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to keep fighting for Bakhmut, but Ukrainian forces struggling to retain control of the salt-mining town told AFP its capture by Russia was inevitable and that some units had already begun to pull back.
The eastern Ukrainian city has been badly damaged during the longest and bloodiest battle since Russia invaded more than a year ago. Kyiv says the fighting is becoming increasingly difficult and analysts say its forces may have initiated a strategic retreat.
But Zelensky met with top commanders on Monday and his office said they favoured “continuing the defensive operation and further strengthening our positions in Bakhmut.” In his evening address, the president said he “told the Chief of Staff to find the appropriate forces to help the guys in Bakhmut.”
Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak also said there was “consensus” in the military on the need to “continue defending” the city.
Neither side has said how many troops they have lost in the battle, with observers saying Moscow and Kyiv are trying to exhaust each other.
Outside Bakhmut, some Ukrainian soldiers had lost hope that Kyiv would hold the city and looked set to retreat.
Near the town of Chasiv Yar, 10 kilometres west of Bakhmut, one soldier said he came to repair his tank after a month of fighting.
“Bakhmut will fall,” he told AFP from the vehicle.
“We are almost encircled. The units are progressively retreating in small groups.” He said the only path out of Bakhmut was over dirt roads that lead to Chasiv Yar. If tanks get bogged down there, he said, they could become a target for artillery fire.
But a senior Ukrainian official said “considering the current positions” of Kyiv’s forces near Bakhmut, it is “impossible to besiege” the city.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War has said Ukrainian forces may have initiated a strategic retreat from the town.
“Ukrainian forces are likely conducting a limited tactical withdrawal in Bakhmut, although it is still too early to assess Ukrainian intentions.”
Some 4,500 civilians remain in Bakhmut, Ukrainian officials have said.