USA: According to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Monday, according to Reuters, the city of Artyomovsk, or Bakhmut as it is known by Ukraine, is more significant symbolically than practically.
In the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), the city is a key stronghold and logistical center for Kiev's forces. The battle for the city has raged for months, and some have called it the fiercest in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
According to Yan Gagin, an advisor to the DPR's acting leader Denis Pushilin, Russian forces have surrounded the important city, trapping about 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers inside.
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However, if Ukrainian troops choose to reposition themselves on new defense lines west of the city, the head of the Pentagon said he wouldn't view it as a strategic setback.
He added that the fall of Artyomovsk wouldn't necessarily indicate that the Russians had turned the tide of the conflict.
Austin acknowledged that Ukraine might lose in Artyomovsk, but he would not predict whether or when it would happen.
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The city has reportedly become a source of internal conflict between Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and the head of the nation's armed forces, General Valery Zaluzhny, according to German tabloid Bild on Monday. The outlet was informed by insiders in Kiev that Zaluzhny had requested a withdrawal from the city weeks earlier.
Zelensky's office, however, reported on Monday morning that his top generals approved of keeping up the defensive operation in Bakhmut.
According to reports in Western media, the US government has been advising Kiev to abandon Artyomovsk since the end of January and instead get ready for upcoming counteroffensives in other regions. Zelensky, however, has insisted that the city fight for as long as possible
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In late February, senior Biden administration officials told the Washington Post that the Ukrainian leader "attaches symbolic importance" to the city and worries about morale being hit if it is taken by Russian forces.