Why are Russian troops throwing themselves at Bakhmut
The battle for Bakhmut started in August 2022. A potential capturing of the city played a special role in Russia’s plans. Bakhmut is the only place on the strip of front line almost 70 km long between Horlivka in the south and Bilohorivka in the north where three strategically important highways meet. One goes north to Siversk, the other leads southwest to Kostiantynivka and further to Kramatorsk, while the third one is a road northwest to Sloviansk.
If Russia managed to penetrate the Ukrainian defence in the summer of 2022, its Izium and Lyman groupings would head towards Russia’s troops on the offensive in the north, eventually meet those near Kramatorsk or Sloviansk, and encircle Ukraine’s units active east of the Lyman-Bakhmut line or even the Izium-Kramatorsk-Bakhmut line.
This would be exactly a “tongs” structure that generals love to draw on maps. Ukraine’s Armed Forces would be in quite a tight corner this way. Today, same as back in the summer, Moscow considers the capturing of Bakhmut to be the first step to routing the Ukrainian troops in the northeast of the Donetsk region. This would be a stepping stone that would help Russia achieve Putin’s strategic goal: the occupation of the entire Donetsk region.