Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said the town of Artemovsk (Bakhmut) (Bakhmut), where heavy fighting is taking place, now has more symbolic than strategic significance.
Reuters quotes Austin, who is visiting Jordan, as saying, “I think this city has more symbolic significance than strategic and operational.” Austin “will not make predictions” about whether Artemovsk (Bakhmut) will come under the control of the Russian armed forces. Moreover, he did not make any predictions about when this might happen.
“The fall of Bakhmut will not necessarily mean that the Russians have changed the course of battles,” added the head of the US Department of Defense.
Earlier, the adviser to the acting governor of the DPR, Yan Gagin, said that a cauldron formed in Artemovsk (Bakhmut) (Bakhmut), in which the armed forces of Ukraine fell. According to him, there are reports that the Ukrainian side intends to withdraw some military units from Artemivsk. This will not affect the mobilized, who will only have to slow down the advance of the Russian troops, believes Gagin.
