 Russia wants to take Bakhmut until May the 9th. The Kremlin wants to capture Bakhmut until May the 9th. President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin allegedly intends, after this victory, to announce the end of the war. The edition RBC Ukraine writes that after the capture of the Ukrainian fortress city, the Russian army may lose the ability to continue the offensive. Back in the summer of 2022, the advance of the invaders stalled after the battles for the Severodynensk agglomeration. It is assumed that the invaders will begin to lose the already occupied territories of Ukraine after the counter-offensive of the armed forces of Ukraine. Thus, the announcement of the end of the war will only be an attempt to gain a foothold in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. If Moscow follows this scenario before the counter-offensive of the armed forces of Ukraine, then there is a risk that world politicians will begin to put pressure on Kiev to start negotiations instead of hostilities. The situation may increase the number of peacekeeping countries which will have negative consequences for Ukraine. In this regard, the task of Kiev is to keep Bakhmut and prevent Moscow from getting at least some kind of victory before the start of the counter-offensive of the Ukrainian army. Ukraine has said that it still controls the critical road of life, resupply route that runs west out of besieged Bakhmut. The city is the focus of fighting in Ukraine and although the Kremlin's Wagner mercenary group is making steady progress towards capturing the whole city, Ukrainian officials have insisted that their forces were not cut off.