Maybe you are right, there was a lot of debate about it already at the time. They knew they would lose it, so I considered it an exploit of a good defensive position for as long as possible.
Maybe they stayed a bit too long, but to be fair, we don't see all the things they have to take into consideration. Maybe you are right that they could have done better. But they definitely also could have done a lot worse.

[–] endeavor@sopuli.xyz 2 points 5 days ago

Bahkmut could have been optimized further but bahkmut was great. Not only it broke russians stationed there it also ended with the pie man almost couping moscow. Putin also showed russia there are 3 year old girls braver than him by fleeing and letting a country seen as the prison bitch solve russian inner affairs.

After that wagner was done for, russian presence in Syria collapsed and they are getting constantly wiped out everywhere they are. Putin has been weakened considerably. Sadly memory holing has begun, people are forgetting how humiliating it was for russia.