NATO Chief: Bakhmut could fall in the coming days

"What we see is that Russia is throwing more troops, more forces, and what Russia lacks in quality they try to make up in quantity," Stoltenberg said.

He added that the lesson to take from the potential loss of Bakhmut would be that Russia must not be "underestimated" and that providing continued defense aid to Ukraine was paramount.

Bakhmut, formerly known as Artemivsk, was the site of the 2014 battle of Artemivsk between Ukraine and the self-declared separatist Donetsk People's Republic.

Pro-Russian separatists had captured parts of the city during the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine in April, and a Ukrainian special forces unit together with the National Guard were dispatched to expel the separatists from the city. The separatists were expelled to the city's outskirts where clashes continued until July 2014, when they finally retreated from the area.

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, a key Russian goal was to capture the Donbas region, consisting of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

Following a local offensive in early January 2023, Russian forces captured the nearby town of Soledar, located 20 kilometers (12 mi) north of Bakhmut, by 16 January 2023.

In its 7 January assessment, the ISW had considered the capture of Soledar as helping Russian forces to advance on Bakhmut from the north, although it assessed they would need to take control of the T0513 Siversk-Bakhmut highway, located 7 kilometers (4.3 mi) west of Russia's positions near Soledar, to cut Ukraine's supply lines to Bakhmut.

By 20 January 2023, both the Russian defense ministry and Wagner forces claimed to have captured Klishchiivka, a village located 9 kilometers (5.6 mi) southwest of Bakhmut, although Reuters could not independently verify the claims at the time.

On 1 February, The New York Times reported that Russians had increased the intensification of the attacks on the city and its surrounding areas. By 22 February, Russian forces encircled Bakhmut from the east, south, and north.

By 3 March, Ukrainian soldiers destroyed two key bridges, creating the possibility for a controlled fighting withdrawal.

Bakhmut's deputy mayor told news services that there was street fighting but that Russian forces had not taken control of the city.

The chief of the Wagner Group said that the city was encircled except for one road still controlled by the Ukrainian military, as had been the case since February 22nd.

Ukrainian commander, Olexandr Syrsky, said the fighting had reached the "highest level of tension" during a visit to the front lines.

On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that Ukrainian generals were requesting permission to continue fighting against the nearly fully surrounded and besieged city. (ILKHA)