RUSSIAN FORCES WITHDRAW IN BAD ORDER FROM SOUTHERN BAKHMUT OPERATIONS: UK

Sat 13 May 2023:

Over the past four days, Russian forces have abandoned their positions badly on the southern flank of Bakhmut operations, Britain’s defence ministry said on Saturday.

The withdrawal has seen Ukrainian forces regain at least a kilometer of territory, Britain said in a daily intelligence bulletin.

“The area has some tactical significance because it was a Russianbridgehead on the western side of the Donets-Donbas Canal, which marks the front line through parts of the sector,” the intelligenceupdate said.

⚡️UK Defense Ministry: Ukrainian forces regain at least 1 km of territory near Bakhmut.

Elements of Russia’s 72nd Separate Motor Rifle Brigade likely withdrew "in bad order" from their positions on the southern flank of Bakhmut over the last 4 days, the UK Defense Ministry said. pic.twitter.com/MWa9dFLBiS

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) May 13, 2023

Moscow has acknowledged that its forces had fallen back north of the battlefield city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, in a retreat that the head of Russia’s Wagner private army called a “rout”.

The setback for Russia comes after reports of Ukrainian advances around the city and suggests a coordinated push by Kyiv to encircle Russian forces in Bakhmut, which has been Moscow’s main objective for months during the war’s bloodiest fighting.

It means both sides are now reporting the biggest Ukrainian gains in six months, although Ukraine has given few details and played down suggestions a long-planned counteroffensive had officially begun.

Russian Ministry of Defence spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Ukraine had launched an assault north of Bakhmut with more than 1,000 troops and up to 40 tanks, a scale that if confirmed would amount to the biggest Ukrainian offensive since November.

The Russians had repelled 26 attacks but troops in one area had fallen back to regroup in more favourable positions near the Berkhivka reservoir northwest of Bakhmut, Konashenkov said.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner forces that have led the campaign in the city, said in an audio message: “What Konashenkov described, unfortunately, is called ‘a rout’ and not a regrouping”.

In a separate video message, Prigozhin said the Ukrainians had seized high ground overlooking Bakhmut and opened the main highway leading into the city from the West.

“The loss of the Berkhivka reservoir – the loss of this territory they gave up – that’s five square kilometres, just today,” Prigozhin said.