Bakhmut Is Gone: An Aerial Look at the War's Destruction

[brooklynite]

New York Times

Bakhmut is obliterated.

As fighting around the city in eastern Ukraine rages on, drone footage taken by The New York Times on Friday captured the scorched buildings, destroyed schools, and cratered parks that now define Bakhmut. What looks like an early-morning haze spreading across the shattered skyline is the acrid smoke that hung heavy after another night of relentless shelling.

The Russians are declaring victory in this battle, the war’s longest and bloodiest. The Ukrainians, making gains on the outskirts, say the death of the city is not the end of the campaign to drive the Russians from the ruins, just one more phase in a catastrophic war.

The notion of a “winner,” however, defies what is so clearly lost — the many lives and homes in the once peaceful city, known for its salt-mines and sparkling wine, largely reduced to ashes. A few remaining civilians moved anxiously trying to find a safe path as the Russians fought in the neighborhood where the people were taking shelter. It was not immediately possible to know who the people are, where they are going and how they survived.

[Walleye]

1. I don't know what they think they have won here, Ukrainians aren't going to give up anyway

[cilla4progress]

2. I hate putin with a fiery rage

Let this city be a testament to evil.

Amd yes, the Russian people - like "moderate" Republicans here and "good Germans" everywhere are complicit and should be held as so.

[Deuxcents]

3. This is a war crime. Civilians lived here and sure doesn't look like a military target.

Not the only example of Russian barbarism

[Freethinker65]

4. What a waste.

For what? To prove you had the ability to destroy a small city in one year?

[niyad]

5. President Z said it yesterday, when asked about ruzzia taking Bakhmut. "There is

nothing in Bakhmut. The russians destroyed it all."