‘Exhaust them’: Why Ukraine has fought Russia for every inch of Bakhmut, despite high cost

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The nine-month battle for Bakhmut has destroyed the 400-year-old city in eastern Ukraine and killed tens of thousands of people in a mutually devastating demonstration of Ukraine’s strategy of exhausting the Russian military. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground Sunday in the invasion’s longest battle: Russia’s defense ministry reported that the Wagner private army backed by Russian troops had seized the city.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said Bakhmut was not being occupied by Russian forces. Regardless, the small city has long has more symbolic than strategic value for both sides.

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