NATO Secretary General admits that Bakhmut may be captured within days

He said this at a meeting of EU defense ministers in Stockholm, The Guardian reports.

Given the continuing fighting in Bakhmut, there is a possibility that it will fall in the coming days, the NATO Secretary General said.

“It is also important to highlight that this does not necessarily reflect any turning point of the war,” Stoltenberg noted. 

“It just highlights that we should not underestimate Russia. We must continue to provide support to Ukraine,” he added. 

Stoltenberg noted that NATO allies have provided Ukraine with military, financial and economic support worth about EUR 150 billion over the past year.

• Earlier, Western media reported that Russia lost 20,000 to 30,000 troops trying to take Bakhmut.

• On March 1, the spokesman for the Eastern Grouping of Forces, Serhii Cherevatyi, said that the Ukrainian command had not decided to withdraw troops from Bakhmut, Donetsk region, but could do so to save the lives of its personnel.