Bakhmut remains the epicenter of the enemy strike

Bakhmut remains the epicenter of the enemy strike. During the day, three hundred bombardments, sixty clashes took place on this sector of the front. This was announced on February 27 on the air telethon “United News” by the representative of the Eastern Group of Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Sergey Cherevaty.
“Bakhmut remains the epicenter of the enemy strike, where it concentrates its efforts to break through our defenses. In particular, in the area of ​​such settlements as Dubovo-Vasilovka, Yagodnoye, Bakhmut, Ivankovskoye, Severnoye, 300 shellings took place on this segment of the front from various types of artillery, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers; 60 combat contacts took place, where the enemy lost 63 servicemen killed and 141 wounded in varying degrees”, Cherevaty pointed out.
He noted that the dynamics of the fighting on this sector of the front “in fact remained very active for more than seven months”, the enemy is constantly maneuvering troops and suffering significant losses.
In the direction of Bakhmut, according to the message of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook dated February 27, the enemy continues to attack the positions of the troops and carried out unsuccessful offensive operations near the settlements of Dubovo-Vasilovka, Yagodnoye, Bakhmut, Ivankovskoye and Severnoye of the Donetsk region.
The report notes that the areas of more than 25 settlements in the Donetsk region were shelled, more than 30 settlements were in the zone of fire destruction in the direction of Zaporizhzhia and 27 settlements in the direction of Kherson.
According to the Russian press, the fighting is taking place practically in the center of Bakhmut: all the access roads to the colony are under the control of the fire of the Russian forces.
The commander of the Eastern Group of Forces, Colonel-General Alexander Syrsky, visited the Ukrainian positions in Bakhmut, the ground forces page of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on February 25 on Facebook.
The report notes that the main efforts of the Russian invaders have focused on capturing Bakhmut and its surroundings: fighting is taking place around the city itself and its surroundings.
Alexander Syrsky listened to the commanders of units on problematic issues, thanked the defenders of the city, noting their extraordinary endurance and heroism.
Incident near Minsk: what we know
According to the Belarusian initiative BYPOL, an A-50 early warning and control aircraft exploded in the village of Machulishchi in the Minsk region.
“As a result of two explosions, the front and center parts of the aircraft were damaged, the avionics and a radar antenna were damaged. The damage is severe, the aircraft will certainly not fly anywhere,” said the BYPOL telegram channel on February 26.
The report notes that “Belarusian partisans are consistent in expelling fascists from their land.”
According to the Ukrainian side, this plane was constantly in the air, carrying out radar reconnaissance and other actions related to tracking the movement of aircraft and air defense.
The Belarusian service of Radio Liberty notes that after the Machulishchi incident, Alexander Lukashenko held a meeting with the security forces. During the meeting, Lukashenka did not mention the incident, but demanded “the strictest discipline”, especially at the border.
Expert advice
Political scientist Oleg Lisny believes that the three hypothetically occurring events: the situation in Bakhmut, personnel decisions in the leadership of the joint forces and the explosion of an airplane at an airfield near Minsk can be summed up in one word: “optimization” of reactions to new challenges.
“It is a demonstration to the enemy (directly and indirectly) that there are no inviolable territories and it is only a matter of time when one or another ally of Russia, and Russia itself, will be punished for what they do,” Lisny explained. to the correspondent of the Russian service media.
According to him, it is difficult to judge exactly what happened to the plane at the airfield near Minsk.
“Most likely, these are the actions of Belarusian supporters. But this is one of the indirect signals that Belarus will not be able to rest easy if it supports Russia. And Russia does not talk much about this situation, and Belarus is silent about it. Obviously, the abilities of Belarusian supporters have been used, and Lukashenka is not comfortable talking about it. If he declares it, then we can say that he does not fully control the situation in the country,” says Lisny.
Personnel changes and situation at the front
Vitaliy Litvinenko, political analyst of the Ukrainian Club, recalls that control of Bakhmut is important for both camps.
“Redoubts and defense lines have been made behind Bakhmut, but battles are literally taking place in the city for every yard. Although Bakhmut is only a regional center in the Donetsk region. Russia used to say that it would capture all of Ukraine and not allow us to join NATO, today all its “power” and resources are enough only for this city. And if they stop storming Bakhmut, it will mean the complete impotence of the Kremlin leadership to achieve the declared goals,” the analyst stresses.
The situation on the front line, he said, demonstrates the impossibility of a Russian victory.
“For Putin, it is already important not to win, but at least to immobilize the situation. He can’t win, but he doesn’t want to lose either. From a position of resources, Russia can lead prisoners for years, but this situation does not suit us, our human lives, military or civilian, are important and precious for us. Therefore, what matters for Ukraine is not a protracted war, but rapid militarization and a concrete result on our terms,” Litvinenko is convinced.
The change in the commander of joint forces operations, which has been reported in the press, according to him, can be dictated both by a specific case and by global decisions – for example, preparations for the transition to counter operations. -offensive.
“Relatively speaking, we cannot win the war by simply repelling Bakhmut’s enemy or holding back Belarus. If we want to win against Russia, a strong opponent, we have to act asymmetrically. To beat where they do not expect”, is convinced the political scientist.