'Ukraine will defend Bakhmut but not at any price': Zelenskyy

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine will maintain its months-long defence of the eastern city of Bakhmut, but “not at any price and not for everyone to die”. His statement was quoted in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Sunday as debate rages over whether Kyiv’s forces should remain in the eastern Ukraine city, which Russian shelling has all but destroyed. Bakhmut, in the frontline Donetsk region, had a pre-war population of 70,000 but now Ukrainian officials had estimated fewer than 5,000 civilians remain. 

"Yes, it is not a particularly big town. In fact, like many others in Donbas, [it’s been] devastated by the Russians. It is important for us to defend it, but not at any price and not for everyone to die,” said Zelenskyy to the Italian paper," reported The Guardian. 

Zelenskyy will defend Bakhmut 

According to the analysts, the town has more symbolic than strategic value as a gateway to cities farther west in the Donetsk region. Further, Zelenskyy added that the Russian troops have been pushed  on to the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, farther west in the Donetsk region “and as far as (the central city of) Dnipro”. 

"We will resist and meanwhile prepare the next counter-attack," said the Ukrainian President. 

The town, protected by a river and wooded areas, has considerable significance in pinning down Russian occupying forces, as per Ukrainian military analysts. 

“There are no grounds at this time for the Ukrainian military to leave Bakhmut. The town is not surrounded,” Oleksandr Kovaleno, a military analyst of the Ukrainian think tank Information Resistance, reported Guardian citing a local newspaper. 

Further, he added that Bakhmut has played an important role and has served as a trap. "For nine months it has drawn in the resources and means of the Russian occupying forces and they have been killed in large numbers. It must be regarded not as a fortress, but as a trap,” said the analyst.

Meanwhile, The UK ministry of defence has estimated that Russian troops will target Bakhmut to mark the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory. Taking to Twitter,  Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 20 February 2023".

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 20 February 2023

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