Two senior Russian commanders killed as Ukraine makes progress in Bakhmut

Two senior Russian commanders were killed in the fighting around the embattled city of Bakhmut according to a statement issued by Russia’s Ministry of Defense on May 14th. 

The two commanders were fighting on the frontlines around Bakhmut and were killed while attempting to repel Ukraine's latest offensive in the area according to Politico. 

During Russia’s daily war briefing, Ministry of Defense spokesperson Igor Konashenkov noted that one of the two senior officers killed was Colonel Vyacheslav Makarov, commander of the 4th Motorized Rifle Brigade. 

Konashenkov explained that Colonel Makarov was personally leading from the frontline while trying to repel a series of Ukrainian attacks when he was killed during the battles. 

"Two enemy attacks were repelled, and the soldiers of the brigade destroyed three tanks, four infantry fighting vehicles, and two armored vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” Konashenkov said according to The Russian News Agency (TASS).

“During the defense against the third attack, the brigade commander was seriously wounded and died during [the] evacuation from the battlefield," Konashenkov added. 

It was during one of these Ukrainian attacks that the deputy commander of the army corp, Colonel Yevgeny Brovoko, was also killed while leading personnel on the field according to TASS.

"During the battle to repel one of the attacks, Colonel Yevgeny Brovko heroically died after receiving multiple shrapnel wounds," Konashenkov said in his statement. 

Reuters noted that Russia’s Ministry of Defense rarely announces when its military commanders have been killed in its daily briefings and added that the statement from the ministry said that all attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces had been repelled. 

Both Makarov and Brovko were killed around Bakhmut during what has been the first major Ukrainian counter-offensive in the area after months of Russian advances across Donetsk. 

Ukrainian forces first began their assaults in the area on May 6th and contrary to the statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense, Ukrainian forces have since taken back large swaths of territory in the areas both north and south of Bakhmut. 

On May 16th, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said the country’s armed forces had recaptured 7.5 miles of territory around Bakhmut in the previous days, noting that the offensive in that area was not connected to Ukraine’s larger counter-offensive. 

"For example, within a few days, our troops liberated about 20 square kilometers from the enemy in the north and south of the suburbs of Bakhmut," Maliar wrote on Telegram according to a separate Reuters report. 

"At the same time, the enemy is advancing somewhat in Bakhmut itself, completely destroying the city with artillery," Maliar conceded in her post. "Heavy battles continue with different results."

The Institute for the Study of War noted in its daily campaign assessment that it had geolocation footage that suggested Ukraine had made gains in Bakhmut city itself as well as east of the city, but added it had no further proof yet of Ukrainian gains outside the city based on Maliar's latest claim.

Bakhmut has been under assault for more than ten months but it does appear as if the recent Ukrainian counterattacks are making some headway in the struggle.

“We can say that the phase of blind defense near Bakhmut has passed and now at least there will be movements of both sides,” explained the commander of Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade to the New York Times.