The "Wagner" militia and the Russian army have been trying since the summer of last year to control the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk district of the Donbass region (eastern Ukraine), and despite the recent progress made by the Russians, the Ukrainian forces are desperate to defend this city, which President Volodymyr Zelensky described as "Fort".
Bakhmut - which had a population of 70,000 before the war, of whom only approximately 6,000 are left - has limited strategic importance, but it has gained great symbolic importance due to the length and ferocity of the battles around it, as large parts of it were destroyed by the bombing.
In recent weeks, Russian forces have been trying to surround Bakhmut, and have succeeded in cutting many roads leading to the city, which is vital for supplying Ukrainian forces.
For the Ukrainians, the city is a strategic transportation complex 65 km north of Donetsk;
The administrative center of the province and about 600 km from the capital Kiev - a fortress to defend the rest of the cities of the province.
Bakhmut is also of importance to the Russians, as it has become almost the only gateway for the advancement of Russian forces in Donetsk.
Its capture would also open the way for Russian forces towards the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, two of the main cities in Donetsk Province, which together with neighboring Luhansk Province form the Donbass region, the large industrial basin in Ukraine.