His “Soviet Champagne” was considered one of the best in the USSR. The town of Bakhmut in the Donbass has built its reputation on the unique characteristics of cellars dug in its old gypsum quarry, where temperature and humidity do not change. In 1950, on the orders of Stalin, the communist authorities built a champagne factory on this site. And more recently, there were about fifty million bottles in the cellars of Artwinery.
Moscow’s priority since this summer, the city is now synonymous with nightmare. The fighting that took place there was some of the deadliest in the conflict. Their intensity has doubled in recent weeks, with between 50 and 100 Russian soldiers killed there every day, with an equivalent number of wounded, said Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesman for Ukrainian forces in the east.
Ukraine tries not to report on the spot about its losses, which are necessarily significant. During a recent visit to the Donbass, its President Volodymyr Zelensky nevertheless announced a “very tough confrontation” where “every meter counts.” The clashes in this area, along several tens of kilometers of a sedentary front, are reminiscent of the battles near Verdun, the scene of a massive offensive by the German army for several months during the First World War.
“Bakhmut turned into a battle of attrition, like the Battle of Verdun, when the Germans relied on the superiority of their artillery to bleed the French army,” says former naval colonel and historian Michel Goya, author of The Weinkers, How France Won the Great War (Talandier). This has become a problem for the Russians, who do not want to lose the battle that is being talked about every day in the world media.
The first shelling began on 17 May. The capture of the city then made it possible to consider Slavyansk and Kramatorsk the completion of the capture of Donbass by the Russians. But the loss of Izium and Liman in mid-September undermined this plan, reducing the military importance of Bakhmut. However, Moscow is stubborn, whatever the cost. “This would be a tactical gain for the Russian forces, representing a strategic waste of ammunition, manpower and equipment that could undermine their current defense and recovery efforts,” Michael Kofman tweeted. CNA Institute.
“Meat grinder”
This inflexibility in the desire to take Bakhmut is also explained by the leading role played by the Wagner group in the battle. Its seasoned paramilitaries are complemented by fighters recruited from prisons and serving as cannon fodder on the front lines. Their boss Yevgeny Prigozhin wants to demonstrate that his mercenaries are Russia’s best asset and can succeed where the regular army fails - their latest success dates back to the capture of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in early July. The conquest of the city would be a personal triumph for him, capable of serving his political ambitions.
The oligarch does not hide his ambitions. “Our task is not Bakhmut himself, but the destruction of the Ukrainian army and the reduction of its combat potential,” said this close friend of Vladimir Putin. That is why this operation was called the Bakhmut meat grinder. The expression, again, is reminiscent of the Battle of Verdun, the “massacre” in which almost 300,000 soldiers died.
Muddy trenches, uneven terrain and broken ground: footage from the front shows an apocalyptic setting shaped by incessant cannonades worthy of the First World War. “We stick to the same style of confrontation,” confirms Michel Goya. - Against the dug-in troops, artillery has to be used, because of which the vast majority of the wounded in Bakhmut. the threat of using anti-tank weapons.
Having suffered heavy losses, since the summer the Russians have advanced only a few kilometers. As for the Ukrainians, they are using the same recipe as the French at Verdun to counter the shock: workforce rotation to keep morale up. “The rotation of the Ukrainian army and reinforcements can stabilize the situation,” says Mikhail Kofman. In anticipation of the outcome of this battle, Bakhmut, where several thousand inhabitants are still holed up, falls apart under the rain of Russian shells.