Since January 2023, the United States warns Ukraine of the possible encirclement of its troops in Bakhmut (Artemivsk) and offers to leave the city. Washington post With reference to previously unknown secret documents of American intelligence that leaked into the network.
“US assessments were already bleak in January … Washington warned of the possibility of a siege by Ukrainian troops in Bakhmut and suggested that Kiev reduce its casualties and leave the city,” the publication says.
According to Washington, the “continuous” advance of Russian forces in the city since November “compromised” the ability of the Ukrainian army to hold Bakhmut. In addition, intelligence warned Ukraine of the risk of encircling its units in Bakhmut if they do not withdraw “within the next month”.
However, the newspaper writes that Kiev did not heed the warnings.
“Kiev presented the retention of Bakhmut as a necessity far more important than the strategic military value of the city, arguing that it was necessary to preserve the national spirit and deprive Russia of any boast of any territorial gain,” WP wrote.
According to Ukrainian authorities, “prolonged fighting” in the city “undermined Russia’s forces” and led to losses in its troops, including Wagner PMC fighters.
Problems of the Ukrainian army
According to the publication, at critical moments when the defense of the city seemed indefensible, Ukraine repeatedly deployed elite units to protect the supply lines and stabilize the situation. This allowed the city to keep its western slums. But according to the commanders spoken to by the broadcast, “the front line has become more and more unstable in recent days.”
Ukrainian commander Colonel Pavel Palisa told The Washington Post that ammunition shortages have repeatedly forced his army in Bakhmut to retreat from their positions.
“We don’t have enough bullets to shoot them,” said the colonel, “and I understand that we paid for it with the lives of our soldiers.”
Bakhmut is located 80 km north of Donetsk. RIA Novosti states that this is an important transport hub for supplying Ukraine’s armed forces. Now the supply of the Ukrainian army in the city passes through Chasov Yar. The battles for Bakhmut have been going on for more than six months.
In early March, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin stated that Bakhmut was of symbolic rather than strategic importance to Ukraine, so his “fall” would not mean that Russian troops would “change the course of the conflict.”
On April 19, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that airborne troops blocked Bakhmut from its northern and southern outskirts. The agency also claimed that Russian forces had taken control of three neighborhoods in the northwest, southwest and city centre.
Before the outbreak of hostilities, more than 70,000 people lived there. According to regional head of administration Pavel Kirilenko, more than 60% of Bakhmut was destroyed at the beginning of 2023.
What is known about the leak
The Pentagon is investigating a leak in the social network of materials classified as “top secret”, specifically describing the situation of Ukrainian troops. Possibly, more than 100 files may have ended up on the internet, and the damage from what happened is considered significant.
On April 13, US authorities detained US National Guard Air Force member Jack Teixeira as part of an investigation. According to WP, it started posting confidential documents on its Discord server around February 2022.
A friend of Teixera’s quoted by the newspaper noted that the military sees the conflict in Ukraine as an “oppressive” war that “must have more in common between the countries than what separates them”.
Teixeira faces up to 15 years in prison for the unauthorized seizure of classified documents and defense material, as well as the unauthorized storage and transmission of national defense information, The New York Times reported.