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What did Bakhmut look like by early March 2023?
Summary
Reports from 4 March 2023 described street fighting in the Donetsk Oblast city and a rare visit to the Donbas by Russia's defence minister.
What was left of Bakhmut as the weekend of 4 March 2023 ended, and who was coming to look at the front? This retrospective on 6 March 2023 draws on reports from the days just before it.
On 4 March, heavy street fighting was reported between Russian and Ukrainian troops in the city in Donetsk Oblast. Bakhmut's deputy mayor, Oleksandr Marchenko, said that not a single building had remained untouched by the fighting, and that the city was almost destroyed.
A rare visit
The same day, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was filmed inspecting troops in what was described as the eastern military district in the south Donetsk direction. The visit was reported as a rare high-level trip to the Donbas.
Taken together, the two reports from 4 March show a city fought over street by street, and a Russian leadership figure appearing in the wider area of the fighting. Nothing in them settles how the battle would end; they record its state at that moment.
