in friday s fighting, a russian missile destroyed a vital supply bridge into the city. bakhmut has seen intense fighting for weeks, as russia tries to claim a victory in eastern ukraine. cnn s melissa bell joins us now from kyiv. melissa, where do things stand? reporter: well, we ve just been hearing from the british ministry of defense, saying that they understand that ukrainian forces are under increasing pressure. that s what we re hearing from the ground, with one soldier on the ground telling us that they were essentially outmanned four to one. and this has been the story for the last few weeks. so russian forces sending in more and more men to try and take every trench, every defensive line, at huge cost to themselves, first and foremost. there is also ukrainians, will there is a lack of ammunition compared to what the russians have, and they are trying to capture bakhmut, but yes, for the time being, this town still stands with his four and a half thousand civilians
it is impossible to tell how long ukrainian forces will manage to hold out. melissa bell, keep us posted there from kyiv, thank you so much. let s bring in retired army brigadier general pierce whack, senior defense attache to the russian federation and an author of a memoir in his time called swimming the vulga, what does it mean if bakhmut were to fall? good to see you again. it will be a set daback, but no strategic. i think it would be a tactical, what we call operational setback, and the ukrainians have built already successful defense lines behind it, this does not create an option for the russians who have to break through, a penetrating breakthrough, and the way the
russian-backed rebels in the east of the country, laura. matthew chance in ukraine, thank you for bringing us what we need to know. i appreciate it. i m joined now by two men who know the players and have lived the reality between russia and ukraine, former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, william taylor, and former senior defense attache to the russian federation, retired brigadier general. gentlemen, i m glad both of you are here tonight. there s so much to unpack. and again there s a lot of uncertainty a lot of things developing. it s hard to fit in everything we need to know within the confines of that uncertainty. you were there at the time in 2014 where there was the initial invasion. tell me a little bit about what you re seeing now in terms of the comparisons. should there be the same level of heightened awareness from the u.s. s part? good evening, laura, to you and your listeners, viewing audience. 2014 was, in the beginning, very