The liberation of the village of Klyshchivka in the Donetsk Oblast gives the Ukrainian forces “the keys to Bakhmut”, the BBC’s Russian editorial office assesses the progress on the front. There are hills next to the settlement, and capturing them allows you to control Bakhmut, which lies below.
The car route from Bakhmut to Horlivka is four kilometers east of Klischivka. If the Ukrainians manage to cut it, the Russians will only have one supply route left – the road between Bakhmut and Popasna. There is still a route between Bakhmut and Lisichansk, but Ukrainian troops are already operating north of it, threatening the Russians, the BBC reported.
The goal is to encircle Bakhmut
Russian pro-Kremlin war bloggers admit that Klishchivka is lost, but express hope that the Ukrainians will not have enough strength to go further, the BBC points out in a short analysis published on Sunday evening. Therefore – he adds – for further success, the Ukrainian forces – which are trying to encircle Bakhmut – must not slow down and move further east.
Klishchivka is located near Bakhmut Google Maps
The Ukrainian army announced the liberation of Klishchivka on Sunday evening. A few days earlier, on Friday, it announced that it had taken control of nearby Andriyivka. Capturing these villages (and the third, neighboring Kurdiumivka) “allows Ukrainian forces to continue the operation aimed at encircling Bakhmut, because it brings closer the possibility of blocking the logistic routes leading from the south to Bakhmut,” the BBC summarizes.
The Ukrainians liberated the village of Klishchyivka near Bakhmut Reuters
In the epicenter of combat operations
Before the war, Klishchivka was a small and quiet town near Bakhmut, with 1,500 people living there.
In November 2022, the village was at the epicenter of combat operations. The Russians, mainly mercenaries from the Wagner Group, launched an assault and occupied Klishchivka in January 2023. They intended to attack further to take control of the “road of life” – the Bakhmut-Kostiantynivka route, the last route through which supplies arrived for the Ukrainian contingent defending in Bakhmut.
Later, however, the situation reversed and from the beginning of May this year. The Ukrainians started attacks on the flanks of Bakhmut – towards Klishchivka. After almost four months of heavy fighting, Russian troops were pushed east from this village.
Main photo source: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine/Facebook