On May 21, Russian forces declared victory in Bakhmut after nearly a year of battle, marking their first seizure over a major city since Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in the summer of 2022. While Russian propagandists have likened the victory in Bakhmut to the Fall of Berlin, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) argue that Bakhmut actually lost its (limited) strategic significance back in September. On this week's episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia speak with one of ISW's Russia analysts, Kateryna Stepanenko, to discuss her new piece contextualizing the battle for Bakhmut since its start in the spring of 2022 and what it might suggest about Russia's ability to mount successful offensive operations. Is the Russian army able to adapt to the realities of the battlefield? Do they value "information victories" over military victories? Stepanenko and the co-hosts also discuss the right-wing pro-Kremlin milbloggers' sudden shift from staunch ultra-nationalism to deep skepticism over a potential Russian mobilization.

Show notes: Sign up for The Eastern Front's bi-weekly newsletter here and follow us on Twitter here; "The Kremlin's Pyrrhic Victory in Bakhmut: A Retrospective on the Battle for Bakhmut" by Kateryna Stepanenko.