Russia lost the battle when their mobilization failed to take Bakhmut within a few months. Despite outnumbering the Ukranians in manpower & ammunition, they have exhausted too much of either to only gain bits of land. What are the Russians going to do now mobilizing untrained civilians with WWII weapons that they couldn't do with their highly trained soldiers, now dead, armed with the best equipment?
Now that the tanks & IFV are coming online, Ukranians are ripping through the Russian defensive lines like a knife cutting through butter. This is not even the real counter-offensive. Much more still to come.
I suspect that Ukraine feinted the Bakhmut struggle to give Russians the illusion that they are struggling to encourage them to throw more lives & resources into the city.