Russia Claims Battlefield Gains in Donetsk Amid Intense Bakhmut Fighting

Russian forces have descended on the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in recent days as the Donetsk province remains at the forefront of the war, and Russian officials are claiming new gains in the Donbas region, citing the destruction of seven Ukrainian command posts on the battlefield.

On Tuesday, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov announced that troops successfully struck seven army command posts—four in Karkov, Ukraine's second-largest city, two in Donetsk and one in Zaporizhzhia.

"In addition, they destroyed 86 artillery units at firing positions, and also manpower and military equipment in 172 areas," Konashenkov said, according to Russian news agency Tass.

However, Michael MacKay, a Canadian political analyst who has tracked the war in Ukraine, told Newsweek that the latest reports from Russian officials "doesn't track at all with what I'm seeing."

"The settlements mentioned in the Russian propaganda were shelled by the invaders but they are all on the front line and do not have Ukrainian command posts," MacKay said.

According to the defense ministry, the settlements where command posts were struck by Russian forces include Kislovka, Krakhmalnoye, Berestovoye, Monachinovka, Georgiyevka, Vodyanoye and Zolotaya Krucha.

The latest developments in the war have centered on the four provinces in the south and east of Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed to have annexed in late September: Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. The battles suggest that Russia is struggling to control the regions that the Kremlin claimed to have occupied.

Over the weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, "The occupiers actually destroyed Bakhmut, another Donbas city that the Russian army turned into burnt ruins."

The battle for Bakhmut intensified following Ukraine's successful recapture of Kherson about a month ago. Even before the recent fighting, residents in Bakhmut had spent weeks without water and power before Moscow launched a massive effort to wipe out energy across Ukraine.

However, some have questioned the strategy of capturing Bakhmut. Last week, the Institute for the Study of War said that the costs of combat around the eastern city "far outweigh any operational advantage" Russia would gain from taking Bakhmut.

McKay also said that with Russian troops focused on offensive operations on the Bakhmut and Avdiyivka battlefronts, "they are gaining ground nowhere." Comparably, he said Ukrainian forces are slowly gaining ground on the Svatove-Kreminna battlefront.

On Tuesday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that over the last 24 hours, Ukrainian troops repelled attacks in the settlements of Novoselivske, Stelmakhivka, Novoegorivka, Makiyivka, Chervonopovka and Belogorivka in the Luhansk region, and Verkhnyokamianske, Soledar, Yakovlivka, Bakhmutske, Bakhmut, Klishchievka, Kurdyumivka, Majorsk, Avdiivka and Maryinka in the Donetsk region.

Ukraine also said that Russia launched seven missile strikes in the Donetsk region that resulted in casualties among civilians.

"Russian occupiers continue to carry out full-scale armed aggression against our country, they do not stop striking civilian infrastructure objects and civilian homes on the territory of Ukraine," the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine wrote in a Facebook post.

Since the invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, Russian Armed Forces have reportedly destroyed more than 7,000 Ukrainian tanks and combat vehicles, over 900 rocket launchers and more than 500 warplanes and helicopters, Konashenkov said.

Update 12/13/21 1:26 p.m. ET This story was updated with comments from Michael MacKay.