A Ukrainian presidential adviser on Tuesday said troops may “strategically pull back” from the town of Bakhmut, the focus of intense and brutal fighting for the past few months.
Alexander Rodnyansky told CNN the Ukrainian army has not yet pulled out of the city, but Kyiv may soon decide the cost of holding Bakhmut “outweighs the benefits.”
“Our military is obviously going to weigh all of the options,” said Rodnyansky, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “So far they’ve held the city, but if need be, they will strategically pull back because we’re not going to sacrifice all of our people just for nothing.”
Russian forces have assaulted Bakhmut for months in an attempt to capture the city and gain a foothold in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
But Moscow suffered heavy casualties in the battle for Bakhmut. Private mercenary company Wagner Group, led by founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, has thrown waves of soldiers — some of them taken from Russian prisons — mercilessly at Ukrainian defenses.
Prigozhin on Wednesday said Ukrainian forces have not withdrawn from the city and “tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are offering fierce resistance,” according to the Associated Press.
Russian forces led by the Wagner Group were able to take the town of Soledar, near Bakhmut, in January through sheer force.
Russia’s new offensive that began last month has focused on retaking the Donbas, made up of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Some 300,000 soldiers were mobilized for the renewed effort, but Russian forces have yet to capture any significant territory and have lost a staggering number of tanks and troops.
Taking the town of Bakhmut, while not operationally significant, would be a symbolic victory for Moscow and could be seized on as a marker of success by the Kremlin, which has suffered numerous setbacks in its yearlong war in Ukraine.
Zelensky has previously said he would not hold onto Bakhmut at any cost, and on Wednesday the president said the town was the “most difficult” for his troops.
“Russia does not count people at all, sending them to constantly storm our positions,” the Ukrainian leader said in a Tuesday address. “The intensity of fighting is only increasing.”
Rodnyansky said Ukraine has placed defenses around Bakhmut, which would slow any Russian advances in the event of a retreat, and that any withdrawal would not hinder a future Ukrainian counterattack.
“Make no mistake — our counteroffensives will be around the corner soon,” he told CNN.