2. Bakhmut, Ukraine
Currently, Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine, is one of the main battlegrounds in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which puts it on the list of the most dangerous cities in the world. The bloodiest and longest combat of the conflict thus far took place in an abandoned salt mining town that is now in ruins. Bakhmut gained tremendous symbolic significance for both sides of the Russo-Ukrainian War, despite initially being a target of less tactical significance. President Zelensky referred to Bakhmut as the “fortress of our morale.” During the eastern Ukraine war, a theater of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces engaged in a significant struggle for control of the city of Bakhmut. It’s one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the conflict thus far. According to military observers, it was the “bloodiest infantry brawl since World War II” and is considered the bloodiest combat of the twenty-first century.
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