Russian soldiers storm Bakhmut metalworks
Ukrainian troops lose ground on eastern front despite trying to make fortress of metalworks
Russian mercenaries have stormed a metalworks on the northern edge of Bakhmut that Ukrainian forces had hoped to turn into a stronghold. In a video, a man claiming to be a Ukrainian soldier described a battle with Wagner fighters in the Azom metalworks. Explosions and gunfire can be heard as he says that the fighting in Bakhmut is “worse than Stalingrad”, referring to the Second World War battle for what is now the city of Volgograd in southern Russia.
RUSSIAN mercenaries have stormed a sprawling metalworks on the northern edge of Bakhmut that Ukrainian forces had hoped to turn into a stronghold.
In a video, a man claiming to be a Ukrainian soldier described a battle with Wagner fighters in the compound of the Azom metalworks. Explosions and gunfire can be heard as he speaks.
“The Russians entered the industrial complex; we are trying to knock them out. They entrenched themselves at night. We are trying to storm their positions,” the unnamed soldier said.
The video, filmed on Thursday but only published yesterday, lasted 41 seconds. In it, the Ukrainian soldier can be seen strolling through a large industrial complex, carrying what appears to be a sniper rifle or a light machine gun.
He said that the fighting in Bakhmut was “worse than Stalingrad”, referring to the Second World War battle for what is now the city of Volgograd in southern Russia which killed hundreds of thousands of Nazi and Soviet soldiers.
Western intelligence had said that Ukrainian soldiers were fortifying Azom to lure Wagner’s mercenaries into a long siege to drain its manpower and resources.
In April and May last year, Russia’s army was forced to lay siege to the Azovstal steel works in Mariupol for a month before the final Ukrainian defenders surrendered. They had holed up in tunnels designed by Soviet engineers to withstand a Nato attack.
The Azom plant, one of the largest non-ferrous metalworks in the former Soviet Union, was also built to withstand attacks.
“The plant was supposed to survive even a nuclear conflict,” ukrrudprom. com, a Ukrainian metals news website, reported.
“There is an underground communications system and it has its own water sources and power generators.”
But Wagner sources on Sunday confirmed the alleged Ukrainian soldier’s account that they had already breached Azom’s compound on the west side of the river.
“These positions inside the Azom metalworks plant will allow the ‘musicians’ to take control of the enemy’s fortified areas,” the Wagner Z Group Telegram channel reported, using code for Wagner fighters. Russian forces have made significant advances in Bakhmut over the past few weeks, seven months after the battle for the city began.
The British Ministry of Defence has said that Russian forces have captured the eastern part of Bakhmut and had reached the river that dissects it. It described how Ukrainian soldiers had set up “killing zones” across barren no man’s land, part of a planned fighting withdrawal.
Ukrainian military commanders have said the l onger its s oldiers hold Bakhmut, the better prepared its forces will be for a counterattack.