Ukraine Is Paying a High Price to Hold the City: Podolyak

Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, declined to specify the number of Ukrainian losses in Bakhmut (officially known as Artemivsk), but stated that Ukraine is "paying a high price" to hold the city.

"I cannot answer your question regarding human losses at this moment. We will be able to provide that number after the war is over," Podolyak said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper 20 minutos in response to a question about the daily casualties in Artemivsk.

At the same time, he noted that Ukraine is "paying a high price" to defend the city, but cannot abandon it.

The publication points out that this question put Mikhail Podolyak in an uncomfortable position, and he responded more emotionally than to previous inquiries.

As previously reported by The Economist, several Ukrainian commanders believe that significant losses in the battles for Artemivsk are not justified. Media reports have also indicated that the U.S. is advising Ukraine to withdraw its forces from Artemivsk to prepare for an offensive in the south of the country.

Artemivsk is located north of Gorlovka, a city under Kyiv's control, and serves as an important transport hub for supplying Ukrainian troops in Donbas.

Today, Igor Kimakovsky, an advisor to the acting head of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin, told RIA Novosti that the Russian Armed Forces are close to fully taking control of the fire surrounding Artemivsk, having fortified their positions along the eastern borders, with Russian artillery controlling all access points to the city.

It is worth mentioning that on the early morning of February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that a decision had been made to carry out a special military operation against Ukraine, as the so-called Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic had requested assistance.

Combat operations in Ukraine have been ongoing for 343 days now.