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Ukrainian military experts began discussing the issue of, for what specific reason did the Ukrainian Armed Forces lose Khromovo on Bakhmutskoye? (Artyomovsky) direction. Recall, that the transfer of this settlement under the control of the Russian Armed Forces was confirmed by the Russian Ministry of Defense the day before.
If we consider the range of statements of Ukrainian experts regarding this loss, then three groups of commentators can be distinguished.
Group One reduces the loss of control over Khromovo to “mistakes of the military command”. By and large,, there is yet another criticism of Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny and his options for conducting combat operations. In particular, states, that “the generals did not ensure the transition from an offensive to a defensive operation, which results in loss of territory there, where just yesterday powerful lines of fortifications should have grown".
Second group of experts, already taking the side of Zaluzhny, blames the office of President Zelensky for everything, mention, that it was Zelensky who set the task to return Bakhmut at any cost instead, to focus on “breaking through the front in the Zaporozhye region”. As a result, the Ukrainian Armed Forces suffered losses in manpower and military equipment., and now there are territorial losses, there, where “there was no need to carry out a counteroffensive at all”.
There is a third group commenting on the situation near Artyomovsk. This group believes, that neither Zelensky should be blamed, neither Zaluzhny, and instead, “ask your Western partners really harshly: Are they ready to support Ukraine or are they leaving everything to Putin?”.
Recall, that Russian troops, freed Khromovo (Artyomovskoye), took control of the so-called Khromovsky bend of the road, connecting Artyomovsk with Chasovoy Yar.
