Bakhmut

in Donetsk remains the site of the fiercest confrontation.

ISW analysts do not predict the capture of Bakhmut by Russian troops and consider it unlikely that the invaders will be able to carry out a sudden encirclement of Ukrainian forces in the city.

This is stated in the report of the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

According to ISW, their December 27 prediction that the Russian offensive on Bakhmut was reaching its climax turned out to be inaccurate.

The transfer of Russian regular troops to the front line near Bakhmut postponed the culmination of the Wagner group's offensive, and therefore the

The institute refers to Ukrainian commanders who have confirmed the participation of "super-qualified" Russian troops in the offensive on Bakhmut, where they support the forces of the "Wagner" PMK.

At the same time, the ISW does not predict the "inevitable" capture of Bakhmut by Russian troops, although they do not rule out that the Ukrainian command may withdraw troops from there to avoid unacceptable losses.

"It is extremely unlikely that Russian troops will be able to unexpectedly surround Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut Yaroslavskyi (Commander of the Ukrainian unit in Bakhmut Denys Yaroslavskyi. - Ed.) noted that the Ukrainian military will withdraw forces from Bakhmut in a controlled manner in order to save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers, perhaps if the Ukrainian command will assess the risk surrounding the city as unavoidable," analysts report.

According to analysts, Russian officials are once again overestimating the military capabilities of the Russian Federation for advancing in the Donetsk region.

The puppet of the Kremlin in the terrorist "DPR" Denys Pushylin has recently made a large number of statements regarding the advancement of Russian forces in Donbas.

"Pushylin's expectations regarding the hypothetical capture of Bakhmut by Russia further demonstrate that the Russians continue to face problems in accurately assessing the relationship between time and space, taking into account Russian military potential," ISW noted.

At the same time, the Institute notes that the Russian Ministry of Defense may try to

near Bakhmut with regular Russian troops in order to show the Russian army as the only winner if it eventually succeeds in capturing the city.

The ISW assumed that the offensive on Bakhmut had reached its climax in late December 2022, but the city remains the site of the fiercest confrontation.

We will remind, the spokesman of the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces Serhii Cherevaty reported that the 

.

According to him, Bakhmut remains one of the main directions of attack by the occupiers. 

He also clarified that the

is working in view of the general situation.

The first priority is to preserve personnel, to occupy the best positions, and this has several stages.

According to the information of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, during the last two months, the occupiers near Bakhmut lost the same number of personnel as during the two Chechen wars.

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