The loss of Bakhmut would allow the Russian occupation forces to make a step forward towards bigger cities, like Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, and then the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

"The Russians know very well that Bakhmut would open the way to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk for them. Sloviansk is not a metropolis, but Kramatorsk is a big city. And that is exactly their big goal in eastern Ukraine. Every small town like Bakhmut that the Russians seize brings them closer to the big cities," the head of state said in an interview with the German publication Welt.

"I don't mean to say that Kramatorsk and its inhabitants are more important than Bakhmut, no. But every little town we lose means a step forward for the Russians who – as we now know – want to take the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. That is why we are putting up so much resistance in Bakhmut," he said.

At the same time, Zelenskyy emphasized that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were not ordered to hold the positions in Bakhmut to the death.

"As for Bakhmut, there is no order for the armed forces to hold the position to the death. There is no such order at all. This war is not about staying and dying, but we are on our land and we will protect it as long as we can," he said.