Ukraine war: Why is Bakhmut so important to Russia and a ‘thorn in the side of Putin’?
The landscape around the Ukrainian stronghold of Bakhmut has come to resemble a First World War battlefield, the ground carved up by artillery and cut with networks of trenches.
For months, Russian forces including Wagner Group mercenaries have relentlessly attacked the city as they pursue full control of the Donbas region, but to no avail.
As Volodymyr Zelenskyy told a packed out US congress last month: “They have been attacking it day and night, but Bakhmut stands.”
Putin sends new hypersonic cruise missiles to Atlantic – Ukraine war latest updates
On Tuesday, the Wagner Group’s Yevgeny Prigozhin’s discussion of struggles to break through Ukrainian lines around the city were shared by state media.
He said there were “500 lines of defence” and that every house was a “fortress”.
So why is Bakhmut so important to Russia?
Strategically it isn’t, retired air vice-marshal Sean Bell tells Sky News.
“Bakhmut is not a significant military target”, he says.
But set in the context of the wider Russian effort to capture all of the Donbas, Bakhmut is part of a pocket of territory still controlled by Ukrainian forces that has been a “thorn in the side of Putin”, Mr Bell added.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence says capturing the city would have “limited operational value” to Moscow, though it added it would “potentially allow Russia to threaten the larger urban areas of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk”.
On Tuesday, the department said that it is “unlikely” that Kremlin forces will achieve a significant breakthrough near Bakhmut in the coming weeks.
What are Yevgeny Prigozhin and Wagner doing at Bakhmut?
Much of Moscow’s offensives around the city are manned by Wagner Group mercenaries, including huge numbers of convicts who have been taken from Russian prisons.
After effectively telling Vladimir Putin that Wagner could prevail at Bakhmut where the Russian army could not – and then failing to take the city – Mr Prigozhin has begun blaming Russia for the lack of progress, Mr Bell says.
“He’s not a military expert. So Bakhmut suddenly becomes not about the military significance, it’s all about the political significance and Putin telling him and the battle between them about power and legacy.
“So I suspect that’s why Bakhmut has become this sort of iconic moment in the war when from a military perspective it’s very hard to understand how it how it got there.”
Much of the city has been levelled to the ground by Russian artillery. Pic: AP
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Another feature of the battle for Bakhmut, Mr Bell says, is the difference in styles of warfare between the Ukrainians and the Russians.
“Russia has simply got untrained conscripts, “here’s a gun, fire it”.
“And what we’re seeing on the battlefield – and Bakhmut’s a really good example – is Russia have levelled it by doing loads and loads of carpet bombing.
“What the Ukrainians have been doing is surgically striking their resupply, surgically striking where their leadership is, surgically striking their bomb dumps.”
He likened Russia’s strategy to a war of attrition like those seen in the two world wars, whereas Ukraine has been using modern joined-up military thinking.
“It feels like a clash of cultures where the Russians’ only experience is fighting 20th century warfare, whereas the Ukrainians are fighting using Western technology in 21st century warfare,” he added.
A sex scandal has rocked Thailand’s Buddhist clergy after a woman allegedly enticed a string of monks into having sex with her and then blackmailed them.
At least nine abbots and senior monks have been disrobed and cast out of the monkhood, the Royal Thai Police Central Investigation Bureau said.
Wilawan Emsawat, in her mid-30s, is accused of enticing senior monks into having sex with her and then pressuring them into making large payments to cover it up.
Thai monks are largely members of the Theravada sect, which requires them to be celibate and refrain from even touching a woman.
Several monks transferred large amounts of money after Wilawan initiated romantic relationships with them, police said -her bank accounts received around 385 million baht (£8.8m) in the past three years, with most of that spent on gambling websites.
Wilawan was arrested at her home in Nonthaburi province, north of the capital Bangkok, on charges including extortion, money laundering and receiving stolen goods.
Thai media reported a search of her mobile phones revealed tens of thousands of photos and videos, as well as numerous chat logs indicating intimacy with several monks, many of which could be used for blackmail.
Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau holding a press conference in Bangkok. Pic: Central Investigation Bureau/AP
An investigation was launched last month after an abbot of a famous temple in Bangkok abruptly left the monkhood.
He had allegedly been blackmailed by Wilawan over their romantic relationship, investigators found.
She told the monk she was pregnant and asked him to pay her 7.2 million baht (£165,000), Jaroonkiat Pankaew, a Central Investigation Bureau deputy commissioner, said at a news conference in Bangkok on Tuesday.
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Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai ordered authorities to review and consider tightening existing laws related to monks and temples, especially the transparency of temple finances, to restore faith in Buddhism, government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub said on Tuesday.
The Central Investigation Bureau has set up a Facebook page for people to report monks who misbehave, Mr Jaroonkiat said.
“We will investigate monks across the country,” he said. “I believe that the ripple effects of this investigation will lead to a lot of changes.”
World
Tomorrowland: ‘Devastating’ blaze destroys main stage at major festival – two days before it was due to begin
A huge fire has destroyed the main stage of a major festival in Belgium – two days before it was due to begin.
Tomorrowland is a dance music event as big as Glastonbury – and David Guetta was due to perform.
Footage showed flames and thick plumes of black smoke engulfing the stage and spreading to nearby woodland on Wednesday.
The fire gutted the main stage
Fire crews attempt to bring the blaze under control
The annual festival in the town of Boom, north of Brussels, is one of the biggest in Europe and attracts about 400,000 people over two consecutive weekends.
It is famous for its immersive and elaborate designs and attracts big names within dance music – including Guetta, best known for tracks When Love Takes Over and Titanium.
Dutch DJs Martin Garrix and Charlotte de Witte were also due to perform, along with the likes of Swedish House Mafia, Eric Prydz and Alok.
Black smoke could be seen rising into the sky
The festival’s website described the creative elements which went into the elaborate main stage.
The theme, described as Orbyz, was “set in a magical universe made entirely out of ice” and “full of mythical creatures”.
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Organisers said no one was injured in the blaze but confirmed “our beloved main stage has been severely damaged”, adding they were “devastated”.
Spokesperson Debby Wilmsen added: “We received some truly terrible news today. A fire broke out on the Tomorrowland site … and our main stage was essentially destroyed there, which is truly awful.
“That’s a stage that took years to build, with so much love and passion. So I think a lot of people are devastated.”
Spokesperson Debby Wilmsen told reporters ‘a lot of people are devastated’
Despite the fire, Tomorrowland organisers said they were still expecting 38,000 festivalgoers at DreamVille, the event’s campsite.
Israel has shown little respect for international borders since becoming the unrivalled military hegemon of the Middle East. Today that meant an Israeli airstrike on a government building in Damascus.
Israel says its attack on a Syrian defence ministry facility was intended as a warning to the new government: stay out of the part of southern Syria we have occupied or else.
Israel has moved into parts of the south of the country, built military bases and declared a line of control.
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike that hit the Syrian Defence Ministry in Damascus. Pic: AP
On Monday, Syrian tanks heading south to try and restore order following an outbreak of factional fighting were attacked by Israeli warplanes.
“The presence of such vehicles in southern Syria could pose a threat to Israel,” stated the Israel Defence Forces.
In reality, Syria’s ageing tanks pose minimal threat to Israel’s state-of-the art military.
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Syrian presenter interrupted by Israeli airstrike
The Syrian armour was attacked as it entered the area around Sweida in the Druze heartland of southern Syria following factional fighting there.
The flare-up reportedly began with clashes between Bedouin and Druze groups that ended in scores killed.
The background to the escalation is complicated.
At least three Druze militia groups are divided in their loyalties to different religious leaders and differ over how they should respond to calls to assimilate into the new post-revolutionary Syria.
Druze from Syria and Israel protest on the Israeli-Syrian border.
Pic: AP
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Israel is becoming more and more involved in Syria’s internecine war and says it will remain there indefinitely “to protect our communities and thwart any threat”.
Its critics say Israel is operating a policy of divide and rule in Syria, weakening the fledgling government and creating a buffer zone to protect the border with the Golan Heights – originally Syrian territory that it has occupied and annexed for almost half a century.
Since the fall of the Assad regime, Israel has used airstrikes to destroy of much of Syria’s military capability weakening its ability to impose control on outlying regions. This makes it more not less likely Israel will have a volatile unstable state on its northern border.
Syrian security forces walk along a street in the southern Druze city of Sweida. Pic: Reuters
America and European powers have chosen to normalise relations with the new government in Damascus and lift sanctions.
In contrast Israel has occupied its territory, bombed its military and today hit one of its government buildings in the capital with an airstrike.
Since its crushing military campaigns against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, Israel has emerged as the unchallenged military power of the region.
There is however a limit to what blunt force can achieve alone. It requires diplomacy to achieve lasting gains and Israel’s repeated assaults on multiple neighbours combined with its relentless campaign in Gaza are winning it few friends in the region.
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