Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that in the event of the loss of the settlement, the West and tired residents of Ukraine will begin to put pressure on him, urging him to compromise with Russia.MOSCOW, March 29.
/tass/. Ukraine's loss of Artemivsk (the Ukrainian name is Bakhmut) will be a costly political defeat for Kiev rather than a tactical one. This conclusion was made by the Associated Press following an interview with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, the text of which it distributed on Wednesday.
While some Western military analysts do not see significant strategic importance in Artemovsk, the agency pointed out, Zelensky himself claims that any defeat of Kiev at this stage could jeopardize Ukraine's initiatives achieved with such tenacity. "War is like a pie consisting of pieces of victories: small victories, small steps," he said. "We can't lose steps."
"Zelensky's comments are an admission that losing the seven-month battle for Bakhmut will be a costly political defeat rather than a tactical one," the Associated Press writes.
In an interview, the Ukrainian president warned that in the event of the loss of the settlement, both the West and the tired residents of Ukraine will begin to put pressure on him, urging him to compromise with Russia.
Artemovsk is located on the Kiev-controlled part of the DPR, and is an important transport hub for supplying the Ukrainian group of troops in the Donbass. Fierce battles are taking place for Artemovsk. On Wednesday, military and political expert, adviser to the acting head of the DPR Yan Gagin said that the city is almost completely blocked by the forces of the Russian Federation, all access roads to Artemovsk are controlled by Russian artillery. Earlier, he informed that Russian forces control about 70% of the territory of Artemovsk.
Acting head of the DPR Denis Pushilin has repeatedly noted that there is no evidence that Ukrainian troops are going to leave Artemovsk. At the same time, Kiev claims that the defense of the city will be strengthened. Zelensky had previously stated that Ukrainian troops would not surrender Artemovsk and would fight for it as long as they could.
