Bakhmut progress of symbolic and strategic value to Ukraine • FRANCE 24 English

Kyiv’s recapture of Klishchiivka, a village south of Bakhmut, has a highly symbolic value for Ukrainian forces, says FRANCE 24’s correspondent, Gulliver Cragg, reporting from Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region. “But there is also a strategic dimension to Ukraine’s efforts to retake Bakhmut,” Cragg adds. “It obliges the Russian army to maintain a force of 50,000 men to defend that area, which the Ukrainians hope could give them an advantage here in the south of the country where the most important thrust of the counteroffensive is still underway.”