“Bakhmut” is the New Russian Word for “Pyrrhic Victory”

Portrait of Pyrrhus of Epirus. From the rectangular peristyle of the Villa of the Papyri, Herculaneum. Public domain

A Pyrrhic victory is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat.

Such a victory negates any true sense of achievement or damages long-term progress.

The phrase originates from a quote from Pyrrhus of Epirus, whose triumph against the Romans in the Battle of Asculum in 279 BCE destroyed much of…