According to American analysts, the deployment of low-skilled Russian forces on the flanks around Bakhmut indicates that Sergei Shoigu’s team has abandoned the idea of surrounding a significant number of Ukrainian Armed Forces there.
Source: ISW.
Russia has once again changed its plan regarding Bachmut:
The Ministry of Defense of Russia, presumably, began deprioritizing efforts on the Bahmut direction in January 2023 when it ceased recruiting criminals from the Wagner Private Military Company. This prompted Prigozhin to intensify efforts in the Soledari-Bachmut area in January and publicly complain about the lack of support from the Ministry of Defense starting from February 2023, as stated in the ISW report.
American analysts are paying attention to the fact that in March and April, Sergei Shoigu’s team allocated more resources for a short period of time to the front line in Bakhmut. They sent T-90 tanks and airborne troops there, as well as deploying mobilized reservists to ‘Wagner’.
On April 24, the owner of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, began to complain that the Russian Ministry of Defense deployed only irregular and unqualified units to maintain the flanks around Bahmut.
The threat of encirclement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Bahmut has passed
Siloviki of the Wagner Group are likely to continue launching frontal attacks in Bakhmut, which will allow Ukrainian forces to conduct an organized withdrawal from the threatened areas and avoid a large-scale encirclement,” foreign experts note. Additionally, it is emphasized that the soldiers of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine managed to defeat units of the 72nd Separate Motorized Brigade of the Russian Federation, liberate a portion of the territory, and capture Russian invaders as prisoners of war.