The head of Russia’s paramilitary group Wagner said his mercenaries captured Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine on Saturday, a claim the Ukrainian military denied even as its troops were cornered in an area. The land is shrinking inside the ruined city.
Senior Ukrainian military officials acknowledged that the situation inside the city was “critical”, as soldiers faced an unrelenting barrage of artillery fire and intense aerial bombardment. . However, they said, Ukrainian forces were still engaged in combat operations.
The Russian Defense Ministry and the Kremlin issued a statement confirming the city was “liberated”, hours after Wagner’s statement, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, that the battle for the city is over. After nearly a year of fighting, Bakhmut has taken on enormous importance: a symbol of defiance to Ukraine and the determination of Russian leaders to win a small victory in a little-known corner of eastern Ukraine. .
In a video posted on the messaging app Telegram on Saturday, Mr. Prigozhin, standing in front of what appeared to be the city’s destroyed train station, raised the Russian flag and declared victory. “Today, at noon, Bakhmut was completely taken,” Mr. Prigozhin said. “We have completely taken over the entire city, from house to house.”
About an hour later, Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, said Ukrainian soldiers were still holding their positions at “some infrastructure and industry” in the southwestern corner of Bakhmut. She said in a brief statement that there continued to be “heavy fighting”.
The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, General Oleksandr Syrsky, said the battle for Bakhmut was not over yet. “The war continues on every meter of territory,” he said in a statement. He released One video Saturday afternoon which he said showed Ukrainian Special Forces at work in the city.
The Russian government late Saturday released a statement declaring the conquest of the city “completed” and attributed the success to the “offensive actions of Wagner assault units” supported. by artillery and aviation units.
A statement released by the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir V. Putin “congrats the Wagner strike teams as well as all Russian troops” and promises that the fighter jets will be “proposed to decorate the warplanes.” government”.
Military analysts and some Ukrainian officials have said that their position in Bakhmut served two strategic goals tied to an expected counter-offensive: weakening Russian forces and forcing commanders Russia had to withdraw troops from elsewhere on the front line, weakening defensive positions.
Recently, Ukrainian forces have gained positions on the northern and southern flanks of the city, forcing the Russian military to send thousands of troops into the area, British military intelligence wrote on Thursday. Seven. “Given Russia’s ability to maintain relatively few combat units on duty in Ukraine, the redeployment represents a remarkable commitment by the Russian command.”
Mr. Prigozhin, who used his victory speech to deliver another dry indictment of the Russian military establishment, was certainly aware of its dilemma when he said that he would withdraw his troops from the city by May 25 – a threat he had previously made and was not carried out.
For now, however, Wagner’s forces are still on the offensive.
Ukrainian soldiers who were fighting in the city as recently as last week described the nightmarish violence Wagner’s forces unleashed in an attempt to dispel them from final speculation.
Almost every night for the past two weeks, sometimes twice a night, the Russians have been shelling Ukrainian positions in the form of incendiary projectiles. As the fire burned, Russian artillery and tanks bombarded positions day and night, and snipers lay in wait in ruined buildings to prevent the Ukrainians from sending reinforcements or moving troops out.
Satellite images and drone images posted on social media by both Russian and Ukrainian forces are evidence that the city has been destroyed in a number of fierce urban skirmishes. worst in a generation.
Many buildings have been razed. Others are fire hulk. Some corners of the city are wild. “In Bakhmut, they turn buildings into ashes,” Maliar said on Friday night. “Only the foundation remains, undefendable.”
While Ukrainian forces may still be holding out, they have been retreating step by step for months and may be planning a retreat to a more defensible area.
Essentially, Ukraine seems to be trying to overturn the scenario of the battle.
For nearly a year, Russian forces attacked the Ukrainians inside the city while trying to encircle them. Now, with Wagner largely in control of the city, the Ukrainians appear to be trying to encircle the Russians through their attacks on the northern and southern flanks.
While counterattacks have diverted Ukrainian forces in several areas outside the city, the operation is still in its early stages. The Ukrainian military said its forces had recaptured about 12 square miles north and south of the city, but has acknowledged that the gains have come at a heavy price.
The battle for Bakhmut – a midsize city with limited strategic military value – has become more important as Ukraine holds out much longer than some military analysts had anticipated. Bakhmut is located in the lowlands and is not the railway hub like other contending eastern cities such as Lyman or Izium.
The phrase “Bakhmut Holds” is embossed on the T-shirt and President Volodymyr Zelensky has called Bakhmut Ukraine a “fortress”.
“We will fight for as long as we can,” he said in February, as Russian forces came close to encircling Ukrainian soldiers in the city.
Mr Zelensky was in Japan on Saturday calling on the world’s wealthiest democracies to unite even as the Kremlin hoped war fatigue would weaken the resolve of Kiev’s allies. His office did not have any immediate comment on Wagner’s claims.
Ukrainian military commanders have suggested that there may come a time when they will withdraw from the city itself, but that is not the end of the battle for Bakhmut.
Serhiy Cherevaty, a spokesman for Ukrainian forces fighting in the east, said on Friday night that Ukrainian soldiers will continue to fight in the city “as long as it causes maximum damage to the enemy and allow us to preserve our forces.”
This month, the White House estimated that since December, Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties, including more than 20,000 killed, including many in Bakhmut.
Ukraine also suffered heavy losses during months of fierce fighting, but it rarely updates casualty figures.
Mr. Prigozhin, who recruited tens of thousands of prisoners to bolster his military campaign and killed many in protracted attacks on Ukrainian positions, blamed the Russian military establishment. about the enormous casualties Wagner suffered.
“We are not only fighting the Ukrainian army in Bakhmut, we are also fighting the Russian bureaucracy that is hindering our efforts,” Prigozhin said on Saturday. “Because of their whims, five times more people die than die.”
