Muddy conditions caused by rising temperatures hinder cross-country movement (CCM) on Bakhmut front line in Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, which usually gives some advantage to defending forces, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on March 2.
The ministry predicts CCM to be at its worst in late March, increasing “further friction to ground operations and hampering the off-road movement of heavier armored vehicles, especially over the churned-up ground in the Bakhmut sector.
The daytime soil temperature has risen and is now mostly above zero, with nighttime frosts and daytime thaws likely remaining until next week, according to the latest intelligence update by the U.K. Defense Ministry.
Projected warmer-than-average conditions in the nearest future will further reduce the CCM, reads the report.
Ukraine continues to hold Bakhmut despite the seven-month-long Russian attempt to capture the city as Moscow tries to increase its grip over the entirety of the eastern Donetsk Oblast, around half of which it currently occupies.
