Zelenskiy says Ukraine will defend Bakhmut within reason from Russia
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Zelenskiy said Ukraine would maintain its months-long defence of the eastern city of Bakhmut.
BAKHMUT (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview published on Sunday that Ukraine would maintain its months-long defence of the eastern city of Bakhmut, mindful of the price paid in human lives.
Zelenskiy was quoted in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera as debate rages over whether Kyiv's outnumbered forces should remain in the eastern Ukraine city, which Russian shelling has all but destroyed.
Bakhmut, in the frontline Donetsk region, had a pre-war population of 70,000 but now Ukrainian officials estimate fewer than 5,000 civilians remain.
"Yes, it is not a particularly big town. In fact, like many others in Donbas, (it's been) devastated by the Russians. It is important for us to defend it, but not at any price and not for everyone to die," Zelenskiy told the daily.
Analysts say the town has more symbolic than strategic value as a gateway to cities farther west in Donetsk region.
Zelenskiy said that Russian commanders were bent on pushing on to the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, farther west in Donetsk region "and as far as (the central city of) Dnipro."
"We will resist and meanwhile prepare the next counter-attack."
Russia launched its invasion a year ago this week and has concentrated on securing control of Donbas, made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, after failing initially to advance on the capital Kyiv.
Russian forces have besieged Bakhmut since July when they captured two major towns farther north.
Russian troops, spearheaded by the Russian Wagner Group mercenary force, have made incremental gains in nearby villages and fighting has engulfed its northern districts in the past few days.
But Ukrainian military analysts have said the town, protected by a river and wooded areas, has considerable significance in pinning down Russian occupying forces.
"There are no grounds at this time for the Ukrainian military to leave Bakhmut. The town is not surrounded," military analyst Oleksandr Kovaleno of the Ukrainian thinktank Information Resistance told the news site nv.ua.
"Bakhmut plays an important role -- it serves as a trap. For nine months it has dawn in the resources and means of the Russian occupying forces and they have been killed in large numbers. It must be regarded not as a fortress, but as a trap."
ZELENSKIY: RUSSIA HIT BY "EXTRAORDINARILY SIGNIFICANT" LOSSES IN EAST
Ukraine's military is inflicting "extraordinarily significant" losses on Russian forces near the town of Vuhledar in the eastern Donbas region, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday.
"The situation is very complicated. And we are fighting. We are breaking down the invaders and inflicting extraordinarily significant losses on Russia," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
Zelenskiy referred to several towns in Donbas, where fighting has been focused for months, saying "the more losses Russia suffers there, in Donbas - in Bakhmut, Vuhledar, Marinka, Kreminna - the faster we will be able to end this war with Ukraine's victory".
Zelenskiy outlined the state of defense in other sectors after what he described as an "extended" meeting of the military command.
Matters were under control near the Black Sea port of Odesa, he said, and troops were "protecting" the central region of Zaporizhzhia, partly controlled by Russian forces.
There were "very good results" on the northern border with Russia and its ally Belarus, areas where Ukrainian troops retook cities from Russian forces in September and October.
"Of course, military issues and intelligence details are not something you can share with everyone," Zelenskiy said. "But I want our people to have predictability right now. And a sense that Ukraine is moving towards its goals."
