Slaughter-fest lessons
The fight over the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut has thundered on since last summer, leaving tens of thousands of casualties in what has become the bloodiest battle on European soil since World War II. Neither the Russian invaders nor Kyiv’s forces show any sign of retreat from Bakhmut’s smoldering remains. But even with no end in sight, the West can and should draw some conclusions from the ongoing carnage there.
The first is that Bakhmut has put an exclamation point on Ukraine’s resolve and resourcefulness, and the fact that it rightly regards the war’s stakes as existential—a struggle for its civilizational identity as part of Europe, meaning democratic, pluralistic, tolerant and free.
Even in strictly military terms, Ukraine’s decision to hold its ground in Bakhmut is grounded in logic. Were its troops to fall back, Russian forces would likely follow, shifting the fight even deeper into Ukrainian territory, on terrain no easier to defend.
Ukraine is facing one of the world’s largest armies on the battlefield; Russia’s population is more than three times that of Ukraine’s.
Despite that, Ukraine has mounted an intelligent and nimble defense, inflicting a terrible toll on Russian attackers—a “slaughter-fest,” in the assessment of Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Russia’s tactics in Bakhmut—mounting incessant assaults with ill-trained, poorly equipped troops sent into the teeth of Ukrainian machine gun positions—were intended not just to capture the city but to diminish Kyiv’s capacity to mount its own spring or summer offensive.
Chief among advantages for Russia is time itself, which the Russian dictator appears to believe is his most important ally. To him, wearing down the West over time might be easier than wearing down Ukraine’s forces, which are fighting for their cities, their homes and their families. If he cannot break Ukraine’s fighting spirit—which he has failed to do until now, as Bakhmut has demonstrated so vividly—he will hope to outlast the patience and unity of Americans and Europeans who have stood strong behind Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion more than a year ago.
That is why success is so important in the coming Ukrainian offensive. It is critical that Kyiv’s forces and their Western backers demonstrate to Mr. Putin and his cronies that they can muster the arms, the materiel, the personnel—and most of all, the will—to break Russian lines.