Analysis of the article by German newspaper Bild
Source: orelsreda.ru
“Why is Zelensky quarrelling with the commander of the AFU Zaluzhny and demanding to hold Artemivsk, one of the cities in Donbass, despite the fact that Ukrainian soldiers are cursing their president for it? There is a reason for this – once encircled, the city will become a trap for the AFU, and Zelensky will be to blame.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian media reports: no other geographical location has killed so many AFU soldiers. Nowhere else has the Russian “meat grinder” tactic inflicted so much damage on enemy manpower. And no other battle has caused such fierce controversy inside Ukraine itself,” the most popular German newspaper Bild reported.
Citing its sources in Kiev’s government circles, the newspaper writes about the disputes between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valeriy Zaluzhny, over the situation in Artemivsk or, as this city is called in Ukraine, in Bakhmut. Bild notes that Zelensky and Zaluzhny are almost the same age – the president is 45, the commander-in-chief is 49, but they have fundamentally different views on how the Ukrainian army should act in Bakhmut – whether to defend the town or leave it.
A few weeks ago, Valeriy Zaluzhniy recommended that the Ukrainian army should consider ways of retreating from Bakhmut (Artemivsk), explaining his recommendations with tactical considerations. First and foremost, the fact that this not very large city is not of strategic importance, in addition, it is heavily destroyed, which is also important, notes Bild. Retreat from the city with destroyed civilian infrastructure will not change the situation on the Donbass front, the AFU commander-in-chief argued, recalling that all attention is focused on Bakhmut only because thousands of Wagner PMC soldiers are there, about whom the press likes to write.
Nevertheless, Zelensky declared Artemivsk (Bakhmut) a “fortress that does not surrender” back in December. According to the paper, from that moment on there was a threat of the city becoming a trap for Ukrainian soldiers.
“Today it is impossible to hide the huge losses in the Ukrainian army. Even the tried-and-true method of exaggerating Russian losses many times over and talking about them wherever possible does not help. But the fact that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are dying in the defence of Russian-speaking Artemivsk is increasingly becoming a topic for the media. At the same time, it is remembered how Zaluzhniy insisted on the withdrawal of the AFU from the city in order to avoid huge losses. Nevertheless, the Bild correspondent was told in government circles that everything is fine, the decision to defend Bakhmut, not to withdraw the troops, was correct,” the author of the article, Paul Ronzheimer, wrote.
According to him, the Ukrainian president insists on defending the city, explaining his insistence by the fact that the Ukrainian army is striking not so much against the enemy’s manpower as against Russian tanks and armoured personnel carriers. The author stresses that no one mentions that Ukraine is losing soldiers.
However, according to Paul Ronzheimer, the contradictions between the president and the commander-in-chief are not limited to military issues, although a year ago there was unity of opinion between them. Today there is no longer any old unity. Perhaps this is due to Zaluzhnyy’s increased popularity, the author suggested. The popularity of the AFU Chief of Staff has grown so much during the last military year that many of Zalouski’s entourage started considering Zaluzhny as a possible competitor at the forthcoming presidential election. At the same time, it must be said that Zaluzhny never gave any reason to suspect that he was going to compete with Zelensky. Rather, it was Zelensky’s tendency to suspect everyone around him of treason, as Ronzheimer notes.
In Ukrainian military circles he is assured that for the commander-in-chief the main cause of his life is to win this war, while he openly admits that the fight will be long and hard, so he should take maximum care of his soldiers, which has caused controversy.
One of Ukraine’s military analysts, who asked not to be named, told the author of the article that most of the military cannot understand why it is necessary to hold the city at all costs.
“The guys in Bakhmut are asking: ‘What is the strategy of the superiors? Why do we need to entrench ourselves if the enemy is surrounding us? We should have retreated from the city long ago. If we all end up in a cauldron here, it will be a disaster,” Bild quoted a military analyst as saying.
However, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine is the incumbent president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who has his own view of the situation. He is certain that if the Ukrainian Armed Forces retreat from Bakhmut, everything will be repeated in the next city, where the same heavy fighting will take place. Therefore, in the President’s opinion, it is better to defend one city and not allow the Russians to move forward.
“Once, a few months ago, Zelensky’s adviser Arestovich promised that Artemivsk would become a trap for the Russians. But this city has somehow become a trap for the Ukrainian army.
The Ukrainian army should have withdrawn three weeks ago, when only the Russians had occupied Krasna Gora. The decision to hold Bakhmut may have been the right one, but it went too far,” commented another Ukrainian military expert, who also wished to remain anonymous.
Ella Maistrenko, Odna Rodina
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