乌克兰基辅-长达九个月的巴赫穆特之战摧毁了这座东部有400年历史的城市乌克兰并杀死了数万人，这是乌克兰耗尽俄罗斯军事力量的战略的毁灭性展示。
战争的迷雾使得周日无法确认这场入侵最长的战斗中的地面局势:俄罗斯国防部报告说，由俄罗斯军队支持的瓦格纳私人军队已经占领了这座城市。与此同时，俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·泽伦斯基(Volodymyr Zelenskyy)表示，巴赫穆特没有被俄罗斯军队完全占领。
无论如何，这座小城市对双方来说，一直以来象征意义大于战略价值。对乌克兰军队来说，更有意义的成功标准是他们让俄罗斯陷入困境的能力。乌克兰军方的目标是耗尽俄罗斯军队在1500公里(932英里)战线上的资源和士气，因为乌克兰正在为这场长达15个月的战争中的一次大规模反攻做准备。
“尽管我们现在控制了巴赫穆特的一小部分，但其防御的重要性并没有失去相关性，”乌克兰武装部队地面部队指挥官Oleksandr Syrskyi上校说。“这让我们有机会在情况发生变化时进入这座城市。而且肯定会发生。”
Bakhmut位于俄罗斯控制的顿涅茨克地区首府以北约55公里(34英里)，是一个重要的工业中心，周围是盐和石膏矿，战前是这个超过4300万人口的国家中约8万人的家园。
这座城市以一位布尔什维克革命者的名字命名为Artyomovsk，当时乌克兰是苏联的一部分，它以地下洞穴中生产的起泡酒而闻名。它因其宽阔的林荫大道、郁郁葱葱的公园和庄严的市中心以及雄伟的19世纪晚期大厦而深受游客欢迎。所有这些现在都变成了一片闷烧的废墟。
俄罗斯和乌克兰最近几个月激烈争夺的是市中心本身，乌克兰指挥官承认莫斯科控制了90%以上的地方。但即使是现在，乌克兰军队也在穿过郊外的战略道路附近取得了重大进展，以米(码)的速度蚕食俄罗斯的北部和南部侧翼，目的是将瓦格纳战士包围在城内。
“敌人没能包围巴赫穆特。他们失去了城市周围的部分高地。乌克兰国防部副部长汉娜·马利亚尔(Hanna Maliar)表示:“我们的部队在郊区的持续推进，让敌人的存在变得非常复杂。"我们的部队已经把这座城市包围在半包围之中，这给了我们消灭敌人的机会."
乌克兰军方领导人表示，他们长达数月的抵抗是值得的，因为这限制了俄罗斯在其他地方的能力，并为乌克兰的进步提供了空间。
在巴赫穆特作战的一支特种部队的指挥官、乌克兰上校耶夫亨·梅泽维金(Yevhen Mezhevikin)周四表示，“主要想法是消灭他们，然后发起攻击。”。
据乌克兰官员和其他外部观察人士称，俄罗斯已经向巴赫穆特部署了增援部队，以补充失去的北部和南部侧翼，并防止乌克兰方面的更多突破。分析人士说，俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京迫切需要在巴赫穆特市取得胜利，尤其是在他的部队未能夺取前线其他城镇的冬季攻势之后，俄罗斯部队已经将精力集中在那里。
一些分析人士表示，即便是乌克兰在巴赫穆特市以外的农村地区取得的战术上的进展，也可能比表面上看起来更有意义。
圣安德鲁斯大学(University of St. Andrews)战略研究教授菲利普斯·奥布莱恩(Phillips O'Brien)说，“实际上，乌克兰人只是利用了俄罗斯防线薄弱的事实。”。“俄罗斯军队损失惨重，在巴赫穆特周围疲惫不堪...它不能再前进了。”
直到一个月前，巴赫穆特郊区和市内的乌克兰军队还在遭受无情的炮击。梅哲维金上校说，随后，部署在该市南部的乌克兰部队发现了突破的机会，因为侦察机显示，俄罗斯南部的侧翼已经处于守势。
经过数周的激烈战斗，乌克兰部队在巴赫穆特附近取得了自9个月前入侵以来的首次进展。
马里亚尔在上周的一次采访中说，总共收复了近20平方公里(8平方英里)的领土。据乌克兰东部行动指挥部发言人Serhii Cherevatyi称，此后几乎每天都有数百米(码)的土地被收复。
“以前我们只是守住防线，不让俄罗斯人进一步进入我们的领土。现在发生的是我们的第一次推进(自从战斗开始以来)，”Maliar说。
在巴赫穆特的胜利并不一定会让俄罗斯更接近于占领顿涅茨克地区——普京宣称的战争目标。相反，它为20公里(12英里)外的Sloviansk或Kostiantynivka方向的更艰苦的战斗打开了大门，美国智库战争研究所的俄罗斯问题分析师卡特林娜·斯特帕年科说。
本周发布的卫星图像显示，基础设施、公寓楼和标志性建筑变成了废墟。
上周，在俄罗斯宣布该市已落入他们控制的前几天，在俄罗斯的持续轰炸下，乌克兰军队只保留了少数建筑。寡不敌众，他们描述了噩梦般的日子。
俄罗斯的炮兵优势是如此压倒性，伴随着连续不断的人类雇佣军浪潮，防御阵地无法坚持太久。
“我们留在巴赫穆特的任务的重要性在于分散敌军的注意力，”一个志愿营的特种部队指挥官塔拉斯·德亚克说。“我们为此付出了高昂的代价。”
乌克兰收复的北部和南部侧翼位于两条通往恰希夫亚尔的公路附近，恰希夫亚尔是距离巴赫穆特10公里(6英里)的一个城镇，是一条重要的物流供应路线，被称为“生命之路”。
经过这条道路的乌克兰军队经常遭到部署在附近战略高地的俄罗斯人的攻击。开往市区补充乌克兰军队的装甲车和皮卡车经常被摧毁。
随着高原现在被乌克兰控制，其军队有了更多的喘息空间。
“这将有助于我们设计新的后勤链，以运送弹药并疏散受伤或死亡的男孩，”周四，在俄罗斯声称控制该市的两天前，戴亚克在该市发表讲话。"现在运送物资、轮换部队、实施疏散变得更加容易."
'Exhaust them': Why Ukraine has fought Russia for every inch of Bakhmut, despite high cost
KYIV, Ukraine --The nine-month battle for Bakhmut has destroyed the 400-year-old city in easternUkraineand killed tens of thousands of people in a mutually devastating demonstration of Ukraine's strategy of exhausting the Russian military.
The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground Sunday in the invasion’s longest battle: Russia’s defense ministry reported that the Wagner private army backed by Russian troops had seized the city. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said Bakhmut was not being fully occupied by Russian forces.
Regardless, the small city has long had more symbolic than strategic value for both sides. The more meaningful gauge of success for Ukrainian forces has been their ability to keep the Russians bogged down. The Ukrainian military has aimed to deplete the resources and morale of Russian troops in the tiny but tactical patch of the 1,500-kilometer (932-mile) front line as Ukraine gears up for a major counteroffensive in the 15-month-old war.
“Despite the fact that we now control a small part of Bakhmut, the importance of its defense does not lose its relevance,” said Col.-Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Commander of Ground Forces for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. “This gives us the opportunity to enter the city in case of a change in the situation. And it will definitely happen.”
About 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, Bakhmut was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines and home to about 80,000 people before the war, in a country of more than 43 million.
The city, named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, was known for its sparkling wine produced in underground caves. It was popular among tourists for its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th century mansions. All are now reduced to a smoldering wasteland.
Fought over so fiercely by Russia and Ukraine in recent months has been the urban center itself, where Ukrainian commanders have conceded that Moscow controlled more than 90%. But even now, Ukrainian forces are making significant advances near strategic roads through the countryside just outside, chipping away at Russia’s northern and southern flanks by the meter (yard) with the aim of encircling Wagner fighters inside the city.
“The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut. They lost part of the heights around the city. The continuing advance of our troops in the suburbs greatly complicates the enemy’s presence,” said Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister. “Our troops have taken the city in a semi-encirclement, which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy.”
Ukrainian military leaders say their months-long resistance has been worth it because it limited Russia’s capabilities elsewhere and allowed for Ukrainian advances.
“The main idea is to exhaust them, then to attack,” Ukrainian Col. Yevhen Mezhevikin, commander of a specialized group fighting in Bakhmut, said Thursday.
Russia has deployed reinforcements to Bakhmut to replenish lost northern and southern flanks and prevent more Ukrainian breakthroughs, according to Ukrainian officials and other outside observers. Russian President Vladimir Putin badly needs to claim victory in Bakhmut city, where Russian forces have focused their efforts, analysts say, especially after a winter offensive by his forces failed to capture other cities and towns along the front.
Some analysts said that even Ukraine’s tactical gains in the rural area outside urban Bakhmut could be more significant than they seem.
“It was almost like the Ukrainians just took advantage of the fact that, actually, the Russian lines were weak,” said Phillips O’Brien, a professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews. “The Russian army has suffered such high losses and is so worn out around Bakhmut that ... it cannot go forward anymore.”
Ukrainian forces in the outskirts of Bakhmut and in the city bore relentless artillery attacks until a month ago. Then, Ukrainian forces positioned south of the city spotted their chance for a breakthrough after reconnaissance drones showed the southern Russian flank had gone on the defensive, Col. Mezhevikin said.
After fierce fighting for weeks, Ukrainian units had made their first advance in the vicinity of Bakhmut since it was invaded nine months ago.
In all, nearly 20 square kilometers (eight square miles) of territory were recaptured, Maliar said in an interview last week. Hundreds of meters (yards) more have been regained almost every day since, according to Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesman for Ukraine’s Operational Command East.
“Previously we were only holding the lines and didn’t let Russians advance further into our territory. What has happened now is our first advance (since the battle started),” Maliar said.
Victory in Bakhmut does not necessarily bring Russia any closer to capturing the Donetsk region — Putin’s stated aim of the war. Rather, it opens the door to more grinding battles in the direction of Sloviansk or Kostiantynivka, 20 kilometers (12 miles) away, said Kateryna Stepanenko, a Russia analyst at the U.S.-based think tank Institute for the Study of War.
Satellite imagery released this week shows infrastructure, apartment blocks and iconic buildings reduced to rubble.
In the last week, days before Russia announced that the city had fallen into their control, Ukrainian forces retained only a handful of buildings amid constant Russian bombardment. Outnumbered and outgunned, they described nightmarish days.
Russia’s artillery dominance is so overwhelming, accompanied by continuous human waves of mercenaries, that defensive positions could not be held for long.
“The importance of our mission of staying in Bakhmut lies in distracting a significant enemy force,” said Taras Deiak, a commander of a special unit of a volunteer battalion. “We are paying a high price for this."
The northern and southern flanks regained by Ukraine are located near two highways that lead to Chasiv Yar, a town 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Bakhmut that serves as a key logistics supply route, one dubbed the “road of life."
Ukrainian forces passing this road often came under fire from Russians positioned along nearby strategic heights. Armored vehicles and pickup trucks driving toward the city to replenish Ukrainian troops were frequently destroyed.
With the high plains now under Ukrainian control, its forces have more breathing room.
“This will help us design new logistic chains to deliver ammunition in and evacuate the injured or killed boys,” said Deiak, speaking from inside the city on Thursday, two days before Russia claimed it controlled the city. “Now it is easier to deliver supplies, rotate troops, (carry out) evacuations.”
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