NewsRescue
According to Newsweek, the US is “meticulously following” the combat around Artyomovsk, also known as Bakhmut in Ukraine, and mapping Russian army deployments, individual cell phones, and radars.
According to the FBI, the intelligence was collected through intensive surveillance utilising a variety of “classified sources and methods.”
The majority of the documents revealed by the site are classified as’top secret’ and are part of a cache of Pentagon files reportedly uploaded to a gaming web forum by a 21-year-old US National Guardsman. The screenshots of what appear to be presentation slides depict a daily overview of the battlefield in Artyomovsk and other parts of Ukraine, with the positions of both Russian and Ukrainian forces, rough estimates of their numbers, ammunition usage rates, and territorial gains and losses.
The intelligence agencies appear to feel that the city of Artyomovsk, which Kiev regards as a critical stronghold for its forces in Donbass, will inevitably fall into Russian hands, inflicting a “psychological blow” on Kiev. It further stated that morale among Ukrainian forces in the vicinity of Artyomovsk is “low.”
According to Newsweek, Washington does not consider the city to be critical to the larger battle and is instead focusing on the future, preparing for Ukraine’s long-awaited spring counteroffensive, which is expected to begin at the end of April.
According to an earlier report from the German news agency Bild, many Ukrainian troops are not persuaded Artyomovsk is worth defending, and are “tense and worried” as Russia takes over the city street by street. Jan Humin, a freelance writer, described the city’s situation as “hell” and stated that it was only “a matter of time” before the town was entirely captured.
On April 2, fighters from the private military business Wagner Group stated that they had taken control of the city administrative building. The fighting in Artyomovsk, according to Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, has “almost destroyed the Ukrainian army.”
Many consider the nearly seven-month war for Artyomovsk to be the bloodiest battlefield in the current armed confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, which began in late February of last year.
Despite warnings from his Western backers that such attempts risk depleting the country’s soldiers and impeding Ukraine’s spring counteroffensive, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has vowed to keep the city at all costs.
