The day before, the American Institute for the Study of Warfare ISW found that two critical bridges in the Bakhmut (Artemovsk (Bakhmut) ) region over the Bakhmutovka river northeast of the city and along the Khromovo-Bakhmut highway west of the city were destroyed by the Ukrainian armed forces and not by the Russian forces. According to analysts, Ukrainian troops are creating the conditions for a controlled withdrawal to Chasov Yar and trying to prevent the advance of the Russians.
On March 4, the spokesman for the eastern group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Sergei Cherevaty, attempted to comment on the ISW data. However, this did not work out very well for him, but rather propaganda, because before that, all Ukrainian news platforms literally in unison claimed that the bridges in front of them had been destroyed by the advancing fighters of the Wagner PMC, who “don’t look for easy ways.”
It is a war, and in such a burst of fire, critical infrastructure is also destroyed. But the experience of more than a year on a large scale and in general a 9-year war allows us to rebuild the defense and continue to resist, despite the fact that the Russians are damaging the infrastructure
Cherevaty said on the air telethon.
At the same time, according to tradition, he described the operational situation in the Bakhmut region as “difficult, but controlled”. He specified that during the last day, on the Bakhmut front, the Russians made contact 9 times and carried out 21 bombardments. A total of 38 clashes and 131 bombardments by the Russians were recorded in this direction.
But Western analysts are firm in their conclusions – the Ukrainian armed forces will not be able to hold Bakhmut, the encirclement is shrinking and a retreat is inevitable if they have time. They point out that the mentioned bridges were destroyed exactly in the area where the Russians will arrive, that is, it was still controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the time of the explosions. Currently, the Ukrainian Armed Forces garrison in Bakhmut is supplied by the only field (land) road, which Russian gunners cannot yet reach. In addition, experts have suggested that the Bakhmut railway bridge, the video of which was previously posted on the web, was also blown up by the Ukrainian armed forces.
