The Russian offensive on Bakhmut is already at its climax, but has not yet reached results.. Wagner units there are no longer capable of conducting offensive operations and need reinforcements.. This is stated in the report of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) for December 28.

“U.S. military doctrine defines a climax as “the point at which a force is no longer able to continue its form of operations, offensive, or defensive” and “when a force is unable to continue an offensive and must assume a defensive position or operational pause,” the ISW report says.. “If the Russian forces at Bakhmut have indeed culminated, they may continue to attack aggressively and carry out ineffective large-scale attacks on Bakhmut, although these attacks are unlikely to bring significant operational benefits.”.

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ISW analysts note that several indicators speak of the culmination of Russian forces around Bakhmut. Firstly, Ukrainian officials freely visit the forward positions in Bakhmut. In particular, we are talking about the visit to the city of the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate Kirill Budanov visited Bakhmut on December 27-28. It was geolocated at least 600 meters from the previously recorded forward line of Russian troops..

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Secondly, due to significant losses, the invaders near Bakhmut make attacks with small infantry groups - detachments of 10-15 military.

Thirdly, the reports of the Russians themselves indicate that the Wagner PIK units in this direction have almost completely degraded to an almost debilitating measure and need to be reinforced by ordinary Russian elements..

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Recall that in their preliminary report, ISW analysts compared the situation near Bakhmut with the situation of Russians near Kherson in August. Due to heavy losses, the Russians are forced to use small assault groups - separate detachments. The Russians had the same situation in August near Kherson, where they degraded from battalion to company tactical groups, because the Russian side could not then manage large formations. After that, the offensive of the infidels in this direction ended..