{"id":73242,"date":"2023-06-04T15:09:55","date_gmt":"2023-06-04T15:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/06\/04\/ukraine-keeps-up-pressure-in-bakhmut-after-russian-victory-declaration\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:33:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:33:17","slug":"ukraine-keeps-up-pressure-in-bakhmut-after-russian-victory-declaration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/flashpoints\/2023\/06\/04\/ukraine-keeps-up-pressure-in-bakhmut-after-russian-victory-declaration\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine keeps up pressure in Bakhmut after Russian victory declaration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

OUTSIDE BAKHMUT, Ukraine \u2014 Watching imagery from a drone camera overhead, Ukrainian battalion commander Oleg Shiryaev warned his men in nearby trenches that Russian forces were advancing across a field toward a patch of trees outside the city of Bakhmut<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leader of the 228th Battalion of the 127th Kharkiv Territorial Defense Brigade then ordered a mortar team to get ready. A target was locked. A mortar tube popped out a loud orange blast, and an explosion cut a new crater in an already pockmarked hillside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are moving forward,\u201d Shiryaev said after at least one drone image showed a Russian fighter struck down. \u201cWe fight for every tree, every trench, every dugout.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
An aerial view of a battle field near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, May 27, 2023. (Libkos\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Russian forces declared victory in the eastern city last month after the longest, deadliest battle since their full-scale invasion of Ukraine began 15 months ago. But Ukrainian defenders like Shiryaev aren\u2019t retreating<\/a>. Instead, they are keeping up the pressure and continuing the fight from positions on the western fringes of Bakhmut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pushback gives commanders in Moscow another thing to think about ahead of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive<\/a> that appears to be taking shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Russia sought to create the impression of calm around Bakhmut, but in fact, artillery shelling still goes on at levels similar to those at the height of the battle to take the city. The fight, she said, is evolving into a new phase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe battle for the Bakhmut area hasn\u2019t stopped; it is ongoing, just taking different forms,\u201d said Maliar, dressed in her characteristic fatigues in an interview from a military media center in Kyiv. Russian forces are now trying \u2014 but failing \u2014 to oust Ukrainian fighters from the \u201cdominant heights\u201d overlooking Bakhmut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are holding them very firmly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the Kremlin\u2019s perspective, the area around Bakhmut is just part of the more than 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) front line that the Russian military must hold. That task could be made more difficult by the withdrawal of the mercenaries from private military contractor Wagner Group<\/a> who helped take control of the city. They will be replaced with Russian soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\t