The war in Ukraine has cost both sides hundreds of thousands of lives and is the worst conflict to hit the European continent since World War II.
Some cities even look like they were hit with a nuclear weapon – like they were nuked from above.
Sadly, as the war continues, we can expect to see more and more social media posts of such cities being destroyed – unless this tragic war comes to an end.
Drone Footage Shows the Near Total Destruction of Bakhmut –
A 48-second-long video clip that was shared on social media back in March highlighted the destruction and devastation of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which has been the site of the most intense fighting in the long war that began with Russia’s unprovoked invasion.
Eventually, Russia would win the battle for the city. However, the losses were massive for Putin and the Wagner group as well as for Ukraine overall.
Clouds of smoke could be seen billowing out of numerous bomb-scared buildings, while rows of houses were reduced to rubble.
One former Trump National Security Council official told 19FortyFive: “It looks nuked. There is nothing left. It looks like Hiroshima.”
“The city of Bakhmut fortress from a bird’s eye view. This is what Muscovy Peace is, once a great peaceful city in Donetsk region, now only ruins,” Ukraine military analyst/reporter @Feher_Junior wrote on Twitter while sharing the video.
Make it a Desert and Call it Peace
Other drone footage from social media and mainstream news outlets tells a very similar story.
In many ways, it all resembles scenes from a disaster movie or documentary from a past conflict – but tragically the fighting in and around Bakhmut continues.
It is easy to see from even the brief footage why military analysts and commentators have compared the efforts to take control of this city to the infamous Battle of Stalingrad during the Second World War.
The city was subsequently renamed Bakhmut as part of Ukraine’s policy of “decommunization.”
Losses in Bakhmut
A recent report in PBS detailed the losses Russia suffered in taking the city.
As the report explained:
“The head of the Russian private army Wagner says his force lost more than 20,000 men in the drawn-out battle for Bakhmut. He said about half of those who died in the eastern Ukrainian city were Russian convicts recruited to fight in the 15-month-old war.
The figure stood in stark contrast to the widely disputed claims from Moscow that just over 6,000 of its troops were killed in the war as of January. That compares with official Soviet losses in the Afghanistan war of 15,000 troops between 1979-89. Ukraine hasn’t said how many of its soldiers have died since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.”
The city of Bakhmut fortress from a bird’s eye view This is what Muscovy Peace is, once a great peaceful city in Donetsk region, now only ruins pic.twitter.com/FYZwf1bF00
— Feher_Junior (@Feher_Junior) March 28, 2023
Author Experience and Expertise:
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
