Satellite Photos Show Harrowing Aftermath of Battle for Bakhmut Bombing

Satellite images taken of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut before and during the war have shown the harrowing impact of the conflict.

Russian and Ukrainian forces continue to battle for the strategically important city, located in the Donbas region of Ukraine, which has seen some of the war's fiercest fighting.

While Ukrainian forces have repelled advances in Bakhmut, Russian troops have advanced into the town of Soledar, the location of the largest salt mine in Europe.

The intense battle in the region has left Soledar and Bakhmut in ruins.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a December statement that the Russians "actually destroyed Bakhmut, another Donbas city that the Russian army turned into burnt ruins."

Images taken by Maxar Technologies, a satellite technology company, showed Bakhmut following the bombing campaign as well as how Soledar has been left in ruins.

An image taken on January 7 revealed thousands of bomb craters in the fields and roads surrounding Bakhmut.

The impact of the bombs could be seen against the white and black backdrops of snow-covered fields and roads, respectively.

A harrowing post showed how the ongoing conflict has destroyed Soledar. An image taken before August 1 revealed that Soledar was a relatively normal town with typical homes and buildings.

On January 10, the same location showed the town had been destroyed, with buildings blown apart.

The Wednesday post said the photos showed "homes, schools and buildings that have been destroyed from the month's long battle and artillery exchanges."

Since being shared this week, the Twitter posts have been seen more than 350,000 times and have received hundreds of retweets.

In a January 11 update, the Institute for the Study of War said Russian forces hadn't yet fully captured Soledar and that taking that town is unlikely to enable its forces to take Bakhmut.

It added: "Russian claims about Russian advances in Soledar continue to generate discussion amongst Russian sources about the likelihood of Russian forces capturing Bakhmut.

"Some Russian sources have begun discussing an implausible collapse of the current Ukrainian frontline and a Ukrainian retreat as far back as Slovyansk and Kramatorsk.

"The Russian discussion about the imminent capture of Bakhmut and the collapse of Ukrainian defensive lines are divorced from the current operational reality in the Bakhmut area, where Russian forces remain far from severing Ukrainian ground lines of communication (GLOCs) needed to encircle Bakhmut.

"Russian offensive operations to capture Bakhmut have likely culminated due to degraded operational capabilities."

Newsweek has contacted Maxar Technologies for comment.