Bakhmut

 

rferl.org

In January of 2022, a month before the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, the population of Bakhmut was 71,000.  In the early days of the war, Bakhmut was considered to be a key city to the Russians.  By taking Bakhmut in the Donetsk Oblast (province, they believed they would disrupt Ukrainian supply routes.  The Russians believed this would give them the upper hand to take the entire province. 

The Russian offensive stalled due to a fierce Ukrainian defense of the Bakhmut.  The Russian relentlessly pounded the city with rockets and artillery.  50,000 of the population moved out by May of 2022. By December 2022, only 4,000 people remained in the city which had been bombed into ruins.  Still the Ukrainians defended the city.  The Russians were equally driven to take the city to turn the tide of their failing invasion.  Finally, on May 24, the Russians took finally took the city or the wasteland that once was Bakhmut.  

Actually, it was not the Russian Army but their mercenaries known as the Wagner Group.  It is the private army of Yevgeny Prigozhin and presumeabley.  Prigozhin was a competitive cross-country skier who became a thief and served jail time in the waning days of the Soviet Union.  Upon release from prison he became a hot dog seller in a flea market in Leningrad, he quickly grew his enterprise becoming an oligarch of gambling, restaurants, and supermarkets in the post-Soviet era. 

In the 2000s, Prigozhin became a confidant of Vladimir Putin landed large government contracts for food services.  His government service extended to the Wagner Group, which he claimed to have founded to support the Russian miliary incursion into Donbas in 2014.  The mercenary group was used as an extension of the Russian military in a variety of operations including Syria in 2018.  With the stalling and failure of the Russian military in the Ukraine invasion, the Wagner Group has taken a larger war.  Prigozhin has criticized the leadership of the Russian forces creating a rift with the Russian generals.  Where Russian troops have failed with reluctant recruits, Prigozhin claimed he could succeed with his troops which included something like 50,000 released prisoners.

The Wagner Group took Bakhmut and are turning over operations there to the Russian army.  But they did so at a large cost.  Prigozhin has admitted to losing 20,000 troops in the taking of Bakhmut.  Half of those were released prisoners.  There were no estimates of how many Ukrainian soldiers were killed.

20,000 mercenaries killed to take one town.

This is a staggering number.  I am sure Prigozhin quoted it to motivate the Russian’s and drive fear into the Ukrainians that his Wagner Group will never give up. 

I look at it as a sad testimony to the horrors of war and men, dictators like Putin, who start them.  The entire population of Bakhmut were forced from the home and lives they were living.  20,000 Russians and who knows how many Ukrainians lost their lives for what, the glories of Putin and Prigozhin?  Do either need more money or power?  Of course not.  What is in their hearts?  How do they live with themselves being responsible for the loss of so many lives? 

I have no answers but that this is the way of the mankind and has been through the ages.  No matter how modern we think we are, warlords will rise to power and use people like pawns.