Bakhmut: A City Ravaged by War

Russian troops are being redeployed to Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine to replace soldiers from the Wagner Group of mercenaries which have been withdrawing from the Donetsk city. However, British defense officials have said that the Russian army may struggle in Bakhmut as they have had to be deployed to hold the frontline, making the whole Russian force less flexible in reacting to operational challenges. The Russian airborne forces are taking on a more important role in Bakhmut, but they have degraded from their elite status before Moscow invaded Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kyiv was ready to launch its long-awaited counteroffensive.