How Ukrainians' Unyielding Bakhmut Defense Is Demoralizing Russian Troops

There are increasing reports of Russian units refusing orders to mount near-suicidal assaults on Ukrainian positions, suggesting that Russian troops have become demoralized by the Ukrainians refusal to retreat and, instead, to sustain their defense of Bakhmut. 

This is part of the reasoning behind Ukraine's decision to stay at Bakhmut rather than withdraw to more defensible positions a few kilometers west. JL

Andrew Kramer reports in the New York Times:

Ukraine’s continued defense of the city despite the stepped-up assaults is likely demoralizing for Russian soldiers. Earlier in the battle the assaults would correspond with vulnerable moments on the Ukrainian lines — when soldiers were rotating out for instance. Now, the assault units are pushing forward regardless. A nightly cycle of attacks by small Russian units  characterized as poorly planned. Ukraine’s military is inflicting heavy casualties on the assault groups. "They see we are not leaving."

The fighting in Bakhmut has been most intense on the city’s northern rim, where Russian forces are attacking with small infantry assaults and mostly at night, Lt. Oleksandr Kolisnyk, who commands a battalion in the city, said.

Mud in the fields is preventing the Russians from driving heavy weaponry toward the front without leaving tracks that are easily detectable by drones, he said in a telephone interview. Lieutenant Kolisnyk described a nightly cycle of attacks by small Russian units that he characterized as poorly planned.

Earlier in the battle, he said, the assaults would correspond with vulnerable moments on the Ukrainian lines — when soldiers were rotating out for instance — suggesting good battlefield reconnaissance on the Russian side.

Now, he said, the assault units of three or four soldiers are pushing forward regardless. “They try to find our positions, we notice them, gunfire starts,” he said of the fighting.

Once Ukrainian troops reveal their positions by opening fire, he said, they are pounded by Russian artillery. The pattern typically repeats twice overnight, around 2 and 4 a.m., he said.

It was unclear, he said, whether the Wagner group is deploying fewer ex-convicts while relying on more experienced soldiers for risky assaults operations; a week ago, he said, he captured a former prisoner fighting with Wagner. In any case, he said, Ukraine’s military was inflicting heavy casualties on the assault groups.

“Now is the time when we can destroy a lot of them,” he said. Ukraine’s continued defense of the city despite the stepped-up assaults is likely demoralizing for Russian soldiers, he said. “They see we are like made of iron and not leaving,” he said.