Bakhmut’s defense by Ukrainian Armed Forces turned into strategic defeat for Russian army - military expert Zgurets

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

"On February 8, Russia launched the so-called second battle for Donbas. Russia set itself the task of reaching the area of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. These hostile actions were launched from 3 directions: Kupiansk - Svatove - Kreminna, the Bakhmut area and Vuhledar. To date, none of these areas have been breached," emphasized Zgurets.

According to the expert, the Russian army forces failed to fulfill the first stage of the second battle for Donbas.

"Bakhmut played a key role. The tactical defense of Bakhmut was a prerequisite for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to turn the defense of Bakhmut into the basis of Russia's strategic defeat during the battle for Donbas. Bakhmut ensured the destruction of a significant number of Russian army personnel. The Bakhmut factor continues to be important. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to expand the operational area that the enemy is trying to close. The city is not being encircled, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are holding the flanks," emphasized Zgurets.

• According to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, since the beginning of the full-scale war, Russia has lost 3,423 tanks and 6,703 armored vehicles in Ukraine. 

• The British Ministry of Defense reports that the Russian military is compensating for the heavy losses of armored vehicles in Ukraine with old Soviet tanks and armored personnel carriers from the 1950s and 1960s.

• Volodymyr Nazarenko, a fighter with the Svoboda battalion of the National Guard of Ukraine, said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces inflict significant and noticeable losses on Russian troops in the Bakhmut direction.