For more than six months, Bakhmut has been under a near-constant siege after Russian troops and Wagner Group mercenaries began shelling the city after the fall of Popasna in May 2022 . Full-scale assaults on Bakhmut from Vladimir Putin’s vaunted Wanger Group began in August but the mercenaries made little progress and were unable to break through Ukranian lines until recently. Russian forces continued their push to capture the nearly-encircled city of Bakhmut on February 28th after a series of successful attacks by Yevegenzy Prgnozhin’s Wagner Group allegedly pushed Ukrainian defenses to their limits. Should Ukraine surrender ?

