Global Courant 2023-05-20 21:07:16
Ukraine rejects claim, says heavy fighting is taking place in the city and describes the situation there as “critical”.
Russian private army chief Wagner has said his fighters have completed the capture of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, but Kiev immediately rejected the claim, saying fighting was still going on.
Yevgeny Prigozhin made the claim Saturday in a video in which he appeared in battle gear in front of a line of fighters holding Russian flags and Wagner banners.
“At noon today, Bakhmut was completely taken,” Prigozhin said. “We completely took over the entire city, from house to house.
“The operation to capture Bakhmut – Bakhmut’s meat grinder – took 224 days,” he said.
But Ukraine said on Saturday it was retaining some ground control in the eastern city of Bakhmut as fighting continues and the situation is “critical”.
“Heavy fighting in Bakhmut. The situation is critical,” Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Malyar wrote on Telegram. She said Ukrainian troops “kept the defense” in the city’s “aircraft area”.
“From now on, our defenders control certain industrial and infrastructure facilities in the area.”
Ukrainian military spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyi told Reuters news agency: “Our units are fighting in Bakhmut.”
Al Jazeera was unable to verify the claims.
Bakhmut has been at the center of the longest and bloodiest battle of the Russian war in Ukraine, which is nearing the end of its 15th month.
The battle has razed the salt mining center, which once had a population of about 70,000.
Explosions could be heard in the background as Prigozhin spoke during the video, saying his troops would withdraw from Bakhmut from May 25 for rest and retraining, handing over control to the regular Russian army.
Prigozhin slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Joe Biden, who took part in a G7 summit in Japan on Saturday, where the war in Ukraine was at the forefront of world leaders.
Prigozhin turned to Zelenskyy and said, “If you see Biden today, kiss him on the top of the head and say hello for me.”
Prigozhin reiterated the complaints he has often voiced in the past that his forces suffered much heavier losses than necessary due to insufficient support and ammunition supplies from the regular Russian army.
Earlier this month, he had threatened to withdraw his troops after publishing a furious diatribe against Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu while standing in a field of bloodied corpses.
Because of Russian bureaucracy and the “whims” of Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov, “five times more guys died than they should have,” he said in Saturday’s video.
“One day in history they will pay for their actions,” said Prigozhin.
His claim of victory followed fierce fighting around the city over the past week, during which Ukraine said it had pushed back some Russian troops.
Britain’s defense intelligence agency said on Saturday it was “highly likely” that Russia had deployed several battalions to reinforce the Bakhmut sector, following Ukrainian tactical gains on the city’s flanks. It said this represented a “remarkable commitment by the Russian command”.
“Russia’s leaders will likely continue to see the capture of Bakhmut as the most important immediate war goal that would allow them to claim some success in the conflict,” it said on Twitter.
Prigozhin has acknowledged that Bakhmut had no strategic significance, but it took on immense symbolic importance for both sides due to the sheer intensity of the fighting and the magnitude of the losses.
(TagsToTranslate)News
