It is reported that after fierce fighting, the Wagner managed to storm and clear Kleshcheevka southwest of Bakhmut. This means a real threat of interception of the main communication line of the garrison of the city - the Konstantinovka-Bakhmut highway and the actual semi-encirclement of the city, bypassed from the north in the area west of Soledar. So far, however, there is no encirclement (even operational) as such, but the threat to the garrison is quite real.
Now we need to monitor the reaction of the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On the whole, throughout the entire current months-long battle for Bakhmut (begun last autumn), the enemy relied solely on the tactics of "exchanging territories to win time." That is, the Armed Forces of Ukraine stubbornly defended themselves, retreating from position to position as they were pushed through by the Wagner assault detachments, they did not undertake large counter-attacks, they tried to "jeopardize" not the personnel units of the "first stage", but the formations of the "second and third grade" "- from those mobilized with outdated equipment and insufficient artillery. Kyiv clearly "held" its strike formations in reserve. This is how the forefield of the defensive line Bakhmut-Soledar-Seversk was gradually "exchanged", and the battle for Soledar proceeded in this way.
Apparently, holding this area at all costs - the command of the enemy does not set itself the task. He considers the entire Donbass only as a huge defensive fortified area, where they have never - with the exception of the Krasny Liman area at the end of the Balakliya operation - gone on a serious offensive (counterattacks by a platoon-company-two - of course, they are not considered as such ). The enemy delivered all his main blows outside the region. (Kharkov, Kherson), which is quite logical - in dense buildings, any offensive "gets stuck" for objective reasons.
However, there is also a political aspect." Bakhmut is an ancient, "historical" city, a major road junction - not a settlement like Soledar. It is important for Kyiv to try to keep it "at any cost" from the point of view of prestige and military propaganda interests.
Soon we will see the decision of the enemy command - whether the Armed Forces of Ukraine will bring in their reserves to prevent the encirclement of Bakhmut from the north and southeast, whether they will begin a gradual withdrawal of the garrison from the emerging encirclement and / or - as they have done more than once - leave the "suicide garrison" in hope to gain time, create another "beautiful legend" and the subsequent exchange of all those who will be recognized by Kyiv as interesting for its propaganda purposes.
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