Ukrainian forces defending the salient, numbering at least in the tens of thousands (near 100,000) cannot leave or else the entire salient will collapse on them. Their only hope is to gradually shift units out, but there is no time for that; and for political reasons Zelenskyy would much rather them all die glorious martyr deaths than cause him one moment of shame so they can live to fight another day
Damn I was hoping that Bakhmut would be liberated this month
The advance in Bakhmut has been usually fast recently. From Krasna Hora to Yagidne, it’s been like 2 weeks (if even), which means that on average one town near Bakhmut was liberated in a period less than two days.