The 4-minute, 40-second video posted on Facebook by Bakhmut Mayor Oleksiy Reva shows a time lapse of what the city looked like prior to the Russian invasion, and the damage incurred throughout the past six months. The city in the Donetsk region formerly had a population of 70,000 and was known for its salt mine and as a transportation hub.
Images of the mostly vacant town show dilapidated buildings, bombed-out houses, structures ablaze, downed power lines, deserted gas stations with covered pumps, craters with used missiles inside them, broken windows, and even a Ferris wheel in a field. Debris is everywhere. Stores, schools and churches have also been targeted in the line of Russian fire.
“Our Bakhmut is unbreakable,” Reva wrote in a caption with the video, according to a Google translation.
In a subsequent post, Reva praised Ukrainian soldiers as “true patriots” and thanked the mothers who raised them.
“The Ukrainian military is a true army of indomitable and invincible fighters who demonstrate courage, strength of spirit and will,” he wrote.
The Russian military’s offensive in the city is costing them hundreds of personnel, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
As Ukrainian troops continue to fight to defend the area in the Donetsk region, the ISW said Russia is losing 100 soldiers per day—about 50 wounded and 50 killed in action.
Fighting has taken place northeast of Bakhmut near Berestove, Bilohorivka, Yakovlivka, Soledar and Bakhmutske and south of Bakhmut near Opytne, Klishchiivka, Andriivka and Kurdiumivka.
“Social-media footage posted by Ukrainian troops shows heavy fighting south of Bakhmut in Opytne, and Russian milbloggers claimed that the capture of Opytne is crucial to further Russian advances toward Bakhmut,” the ISW said.
Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian troops conducted an unsuccessful counterattack in Kurdiumivka.
The U.K. Ministry of Defence said Saturday that Russia’s offensive along a roughly 10-mile-long sector around Bakhmut would lead to a “symbolic” and not strategic outcome if successful.
“The campaign has been disproportionately costly relative to these possible gains,” officials said, adding that claimed sites could potentially be used for Russian staging areas. “There is a realistic possibility that Bakhmut’s capture has become primarily a symbolic, political objective for Russia.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in October that Russian attacks on Bakhmut were a sign of “where the craziness of the Russian command is most evident.”
Newsweek reached out to Reva for comment.
