Bubbel och salt: Bachmuts invånare minns sin stad

The battle of Bakhmut is a series of military engagements in and near the city of Bakhmut between the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Russian Armed Forces during the larger battle for Donbas. While the shelling of Bakhmut began in May 2022, the main assault towards the city started on 1 August after Russian forces advanced from the direction of Popasna following a Ukrainian withdrawal from that front. The main assault force primarily consists of mercenaries from the Russian paramilitary organization Wagner Group, supported by regular Russian troops and DPR and LPR separatist elements.As of late 2022, following Ukraine's Kharkiv and Kherson counteroffensives, the Bakhmut–Soledar front became an important focus of the war, being one of the few front lines in Ukraine where Russia remained on the offensive. Attacks on the city intensified in November 2022 as assaulting Russian forces were reinforced by units redeployed from the Kherson front, together with newly mobilized recruits. By this time, much of the front line had descended into positional trench warfare, with both sides suffering high casualties without any significant advances. By using human wave attacks composed of former convicts, Wagner troops were able to gradually gain ground, and by February 2023, they captured territory in the north and south of Bakhmut and threatened encirclement, forcing Ukrainian forces to slowly pull out into the city, and the battle turned into fierce urban warfare. By March 2023, Russian forces captured the eastern half of the city, up to the Bakhmutka river, and continued to advance into Ukrainian-controlled parts of Bakhmut. The intensity of the battle and the high number of casualties has been compared to the Battle of Verdun in World War I, as well as to the fighting in World War II.On 20 May 2023, Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Russian defence ministry both claimed that Bakhmut was completely captured. Ukraine denied Prigozhin's claim and said heavy clashes for the city were ongoing, with the Ukrainian military rejecting Russia's claim of capturing the city. Ukrainian counterattacks on Russia's flanks and Russian attacks on neighboring settlements have continued. By 22 May, The New York Times reported that Hanna Maliar, a deputy defense minister, "essentially acknowledged" that the city had been lost, with other western sources confirming its capture. These reports were reiterating claims from the Russian Ministry of Defense and Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin, in subsequent reports the media reiterated Ukrainian claims that a strip of territory is still within their control, and that the battle is still ongoing. Additonal analysis from the independent think-tank, the Institute for the Study of War, also assess that Ukraine still controls a strip within city limits and that the battle is ongoing. By 25 May, Wagner had begun withdrawing from the city to be replaced by regular Russian troops. On June 4, Prigozhin himself conceded that Ukrainian forces still controlled parts of the city along the T0504 highway.