Failure will be a strong blow: experts told about the meaningless attacks of the Wagnets under Bakhmut

According to Hodges, if the Russian mercenaries are forced to leave Bakhmut or stop their offensive actions there, it will be a "blow" on the prestige of Prigogine and "psychologically" harm the Russians in general. On the other hand, as Hodges noted, if Russia somehow captures Bakhmut or Ukraine decides that it is not important enough in military terms, Russian propaganda will "play this card" for its audience as much as possible.

In addition, Professor and Head of the Department of Political Science in the Northwestern US University, William Reno said that Russia will have only minor tactical consequences. "The Russians probably spend more ammunition, trying to seize the city than the Ukrainian forces spend on its protection," Ren said. According to the expert, Putin's subordinates may not be quite frank with him about the real situation in Ukraine because of fears for his safety.

"As in many authoritarian systems, management cuts off from the information needed to make effective decisions," Ren said. He also suggested that Russia's offensive on Bakhmut could reflect Putin's attempts to balance the bureaucratic forces associated with Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoig and Prigogin, as well as Ramzan Kadyrov. "The distribution of various tasks on the battlefield makes these groups compete with each other for presidential support," Ren said.

Earlier, Focus wrote that ISW analysts said that the offensive of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Bakhmut was close to the climax, the "Wagnerivka" was exhausted. According to analysts, the depletion of the Russians prove the visits to the city of Vladimir Zelensky and Cyril Budanov. The Armed Forces Command considers otherwise - it is too early to talk about the fighting of battles, the invaders tighten reserves.