Russian forces continue to devote a significant portion of their overall military effort and firepower to a roughly 15 km stretch of fortified front line around the town of

in Donetsk Oblast. 

This is stated in the daily overview of the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain.

It is noted that Russia's plan, most likely, is to surround the city with a tactical offensive to the north and south.

In recent days, Russia is likely to have made little progress on the southern flank of this offensive, where it seeks to strengthen limited bridgeheads west of the wetlands around the small Bakhmutka River.

According to British intelligence, from the beginning of August 2022, Russia made Bakhmut a priority area of ​​its offensive operations.

Capturing the city would have limited operational value, although it would potentially allow Russia to threaten the larger urban areas of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

"However, the campaign was disproportionately expensive compared to these possible benefits. There is a real possibility that the capture of Bakhmut became primarily a symbolic political task for Russia," the British Ministry of Defense believes.

The situation near Bakhmut

The Donetsk direction remains one of the hottest, where fierce fighting is currently ongoing.

In the Lyman and Bakhmut areas, the enemy continues to focus its main efforts on conducting

Military expert Petro Chernyk Chernyk noted that the

, bypassing them from the south of the city. 

Advisor to the President's Office, Oleksiy Arestovych, believes that Russian troops in Bakhmut want to repeat what happened in Severodonetsk and

Read also:

• The Kremlin can offer the Russians another "victory" instead of Ukraine: the expert disclosed the details

• The Armed Forces "roasted" the occupiers in Zaporozhye and repelled all enemy attacks in two regions - General Staff

• A new wave of mobilization in Russia: the expert assessed the consequences and threat to Ukraine