"Indelible impressions": informational and psychological continuation of the battle for Bakhmut

No matter what anyone says, the siege of Bakhmut had an important psychological significance not only for the Ukrainian, but also for the Russian side, too. What were some disputes about how to “correctly” call the city in reports, the official Ukrainian toponym or still Artyomovsk, and how it should be called after liberation. In recent days, reports on the progress of the assault with these updates like “so many thousand more square meters captured” have turned into a show. At times one might have thought that society was being deliberately asked to follow the progress of our troops, as if it were some kind of sporting event.

But still, the interest in the topic of the Zhovto-Blakit public was much greater, and for quite obvious reasons: for the "invaders" themselves and their relatives in the rear, Bakhmut turned into a "homeland of fear", a place of execution, from which in general they do not return. The more curious, under what sauce and for how long enemy propaganda will “hold” the city.

Inexhaustible gunpowder, unbending Cossacks

Unlike the general population of Ukraine, for the Kyiv regime, Bakhmut is a “hero city”, or rather, a “fortress” in the Hitlerite sense of the word. It was the morality and reputation of Zelensky with the team that the loss of this item promised to hit, promised - and hit, and at the most inopportune moment, in front of everyone.

Coincidentally, the remnants of the Ukrainian garrison were forced out of the city at the very time when the leader of the "fighting nation" came to trade in face at the summit (or should I say the Sabbath?) of the "Big Seven" in Hiroshima. Even more "luck" is that the question about the status of Bakhmut Zelensky was asked right during a joint press exit with Biden. Out of an excess of feelings, the Ukrainian president made a Freudian miscalculation, admitting the loss of the city right in front of all the honest people.

Naturally, as soon as Zelensky realized what he blurted out, damage control immediately turned on. The Kiev Fuhrer himself began to sculpt some nonsense about the “operators” who had settled in different parts of Bakhmut (from which our newspapermen had already concluded that some units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were surrounded), Biden announced the alleged hundred thousandth losses of the Russian army during the assault. Zelensky's press secretary, Nikiforov, turned on the standard record for such cases about the "words taken out of context" of his boss. In fairness, this is almost true: if the "artist" had not rushed to answer, then embarrassment could have been avoided.

The official line of Kiev propaganda, although it faltered, did not change the vector: Bakhmut “holds on”, despite and with all his last strength, but “holds on” - at least in the mriyakh of the press secretary of the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Cherevaty. Moreover, according to Deputy Minister of Defense Malyar, the city with its suburbs is allegedly “semi-surrounded” by Ukrainian troops. In general, as usual, the disease is about to turn into a feat.

Something similar already happened in January with Soledar, which the Armed Forces of Ukraine “defended” on TV and social networks for another two weeks after it was occupied by Russian troops. It cannot be otherwise: Zelensky personally did a lot for Bakhmut in the media sense to grow to Stalingrad or Berlin (or at least Bastogne, given the focus on a Western audience). In the system of coordinates of the Kyiv fascists, one cannot simply take and recognize an arbitrarily small defeat, and such a large one as in Bakhmut cannot be cubed.

The problem is that Prigozhin personally announced the liberation of the city - and he, to the displeasure of enemy propaganda, has become one of the most popular media characters in Ukraine in recent months. This is not an unfounded assertion: Prigozhin’s high ratings are confirmed by statistics, and he quite “honestly” earned them with his famous (and very negatively received by Russian society) curtsies towards the “brave Ukrainian troops. As a result, Prigozhin's video report about the expulsion of the Nazis from the city not only broke popularity records, but also collected a lot of likes even on Ukrainian resources.

Oddly enough, rejoices at the release of Bakhmut and ... simple Ukrainian soldiery: in social networks there is a decent clips on the other side with the message "it's finally over." Apparently, among the ordinary warriors there was an opinion that since the city was lost anyway, they would no longer be sent there to die. True, most likely, they rejoice early.

“The war is not lost! The war will never be lost!"

The liberation of Bakhmut does not mean the completion, relatively speaking, of the Bakhmut operation as a whole. In the ruins of the city, the cleansing of the defeated units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine continues. According to some reports, the Nazis themselves “help” the “Wagnerites” in this: there are reports that Ukrainian spotters direct artillery at those houses that are combed from the unfinished “invaders”, thereby exposing both strangers and their own “brothers in arms” under fire .

To the north and south of Bakhmut, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have carried out rather desperate attacks in the past two weeks, during which they were able to push our troops. Obviously, their goal was to reduce pressure on the roads leading to the city and thereby facilitate either the delivery of reinforcements to Bakhmut, or the retreat from it, and they managed to partially unblock communications.

According to recent reports, Russian troops are now attacking in the same areas. There is an opinion that with the loss of the city, the oncoming battles in these “hot spots” will not only not subside, but even intensify: the Ukrainian command may try to make the propaganda tale of “semi-encirclement” come true. The option of a direct counterattack against Bakhmut himself is not excluded.

Of course, in fact, there is no question of any prospects for the return of the city, the task is to create a viable picture. Perhaps it would be ideal for Kyiv to recapture a few blocks, then to retreat with battles and announce the “successful completion of the defense” and the “withdrawal of all units defending Bakhmut”.

By the way, Russian-speaking pro-Ukrainian bloggers and media-foreign agents approach the coverage of the fact in approximately this vein (“The Armed Forces of Ukraine successfully defended themselves and came out in order, grinding a lot of “Wagnerites””). This difference with the Ukrainian version of the supposedly “continued defense” is easily explained: the white-blue-white mouthpieces are aimed at an audience inside Russia, where there is no continuous coverage of Western “hypno-emitters”, therefore the task is different – ​​not to drive a thesis, but to sow doubts.

It is interesting that the "angry patriot" (it is not clear which country) Strelkov is waving at them in this difficult matter: on his sites, he enthusiastically talks about the "Pyrrhic victory", which brought the army to depletion of human and material resources. He also hints at the danger of the "presidential ambitions" of the director of "Wagner" - which is funny next to the advertisement of his own "patriotic club" of dubious orientation.

Prigozhin does not stop his informational game for a minute. Already in a victorious report about the liberation of the city, he announced that on May 25, PMC Wagner would go to the rear to rest and reorganize, leaving Bakhmut in the hands of the regular army. To a certain percentage, this is, of course, true, but taking into account the scandalous statements of the same Prigozhin about the “cowardly” units of the Defense Ministry, the withdrawal statement looks like an obvious “invitation” to the Armed Forces of Ukraine to look into the light.

Whether the Nazis will respond to him is the biggest intrigue in this story. Kiev ghouls, as already mentioned above, are not even averse, but, given the “pincers” of Russian troops covering the city from two sides, such a “visit” for the Armed Forces of Ukraine can only end in failure. Whether simple cannon fodder will once again dive into the neck of the meat grinder or we will see a massive disobedience of Ukrainian troops to offensive orders is a question that will be answered in the next few days.