Vladimir Putin’s forces are seeking to destroy the eastern town of Bakhmut in “scorched earth tactics” used in Syria after suffering very heavy losses, a top Ukrainian commander said on Tuesday.
Russian forces pounded several frontline towns in the Donetsk province in the Donbas region, said Ukraine’s general staff.
Ukrainian forces repelled several attacks, it added, as the Russian military kept up its effort to take control of Bakhmut, though overall its offensive action is believed to have declined.
“The enemy switched to so-called scorched earth tactics from Syria. It is destroying buildings and positions with air strikes and artillery fire,” Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, said of Bakhmut.
Russian elite troops are being deployed for the battle for Bakhmut after Putin’s Wagner “private” army suffered such heavy losses, according to Ukrainian military sources.
They said that SPETSNAZ special forces and VDV airborne units were being sent for the attempt to seize the town in some of the fiercest fighting since Putin launched his war in February 2022, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
Separately, the Ministry of Defence in London highlighted Russian media reports that TOS-1A thermobaric multiple launch rocket systems had been transferred to VDV forces.
“The highly destructive TOS-1A, which Russia designates as a ‘heavy flamethrower’, is typically operated by Russia’s specialist Chemical, Biological and Radiological Protection Troops in Ukraine, and has not previously been formally associated with the VDV,” the MoD’s latest intelligence update added.
“The transfer likely indicates a future role for the VDV in offensive operations in Ukraine.
“It is likely part of efforts to reconstitute the VDV after it suffered heavy casualties in the first nine months of the war.”
