Why Russia Is Obsessed With Capturing Bakhmut

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has spoken out against Russian "craziness" in its efforts to capture Bakhmut, as clashes intensified in the eastern town against the backdrop of Kyiv's Kherson counteroffensive.

"This is where the craziness of the Russian command is most evident," Zelensky said in his nightly video address on Wednesday, referring to the strategic town in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.

Bakhmut has been targeted by Russian President Vladimir Putin's troops for months, without much success.

"Day after day, for months, they are driving people to their deaths there, concentrating the highest level of artillery strikes," said Zelensky.

The continued attacks in Bakhmut also come amid anticipated gains by Ukraine in the Kherson region.

Jon Roozenbeek, a British Academy postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge, told Newsweek that taking the town would be symbolic for Russia as it would enable Putin to show some form of military victory, amid successful counteroffensives last month by Ukraine.

"Like you need in any war, you need to be able to show victories, and there have been few and far between for Russia since early summer," said Roozenbeek.

"It's not great for morale at all, if you keep losing territory internally. Of course, within Russia, there are also plenty of people who know that the war is not going well for them. The ability to show that look, actually, it's not going so badly," he said.

Roozenbeek noted that it's the only place where the Russian army has been making any kind of progress in the last couple of months.

"It's just the only town where Russia has been moving forward instead of backward," he said. "Zelensky of course is saying that this is a show of madness. That they're not in this to win this, and that they're basically sort of just tossing soldiers out without much luck—which I think partially is not wrong."

Roozenbeek said that the town itself, which had a pre-war population of 70,000, doesn't hold a lot of strategic value, but the location does.

He explained that taking Bakhmut would enable Putin's forces to launch artillery strikes on key places, such as the cities of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk in the Donetsk region.

"They will be in range of the Russian artillery, and those places are important," said Roozenbeek.

"So the ability to continue to lob artillery strikes on two major Ukrainian population centers. It's not like that gets you more territory, because I don't think that the Russian ambition currently is to reconquer what's been lost, or what they consider to have been lost in the last couple of months," Roozenbeek explained.

"But rather, if you're able to sort of secure position and do artillery strikes, at the very least the front will be versatile. Because the Ukrainian army will be occupied with defending these territories for the most part."

Echoing Roozenbeek's remarks, Huseyn Aliyev, a research fellow and lecturer at the University of Glasgow, told Newsweek that Bakhmut is the only town very close to the frontlines, and therefore potentially within the reach of Russian troops.

"All other cities and towns in Donetsk region are too far from the Russian lines and the capture of Bakhmut will signify at least some progress for Russians in Donetsk region," he said.

'Unusual Public Criticism'

Jaroslava Barbieri, doctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham, said that at this stage in the war, the town has more symbol rather than strategic military importance.

"Repeated military losses in northeast and southern Ukraine have led to unusual public criticism in Russia that the so-called 'special military operation' is not going according to plan," Barbieri told Newsweek.

Barbieri noted that public discontent has been exacerbated by the announcement of a partial mobilization and mounting evidence that Russian soldiers are being deployed without adequate training or equipment.

"With the battle for Kherson in the south looming, taking control over Bakhmut is a desperate attempt to send the message that Russia is making incremental gains and can still win in Ukraine," he added.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's foreign ministry for comment.