NEW: Ukraine says its future may depend on its success around the eastern city of Bakhmut. But there are growing splits between Kyiv and some Western military analysts who believe defending the area may be more costly than its worth.
Now, as Moscow’s assault intensifies, a number of observers have questioned whether Kyiv's decision to reinforce the area rather than retreat is being driven more by the political desire to avoid a high-profile defeat than by military logic.
That unceasing pressure has left Ukrainian troops surrounded on three sides and facing an increasingly dire situation. Russia's winter offensive has been held up by staunch Ukrainian defense as well as the muddy, frozen conditions.There is now just one main road out of Bakhmut under Ukrainian control, with the mining hub that was once home to around 80,000 reduced to artillery craters and muddy trenches.
Officials in Kyiv have insisted the battle both restricts Russian advances by forcing Moscow to throw troops and equipment into Bakhmut, while laying the ground for future Ukrainian advances by allowing their own reserves more time to prepare."Ukraine has fixed the Russian forces at that city and they're exacting very heavy costs on the Wagner Group and the Russian regular military," the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, told a news briefing.
They now control most of eastern Bakhmut, with a river flowing through the city becoming the front line, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank.
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