MOSCOW: Russia claimed on Saturday to have entirely taken the destroyed eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after the deadliest and longest combat of the 15-month-long war.
Soldiers from the Wagner mercenaries spearheaded the attack on the partially flattened city of Bakhmut. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the group’s commander, claimed earlier in the day that his soldiers had finally driven the Ukrainians out of the city’s remaining built-up region.
Moscow’s first significant success in the fight in more than ten months would come if it were to take Bakhmut, also known as Artyomovsk in Russia.
According to a one-line statement from the Russian defence ministry, “the liberation of Artyomovsk had been completed as a result of offensive actions by Wagner assault units, supported by artillery and aviation of the Southern Group of Forces.”
Kyiv denied Prigozhin’s claim earlier on Saturday but did not have an instant response to the Russian defence ministry’s statement.
Ukraine’s deputy minister of defence, however, admitted that the situation in the city was “critical”.
According to local Russian news outlets, Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked soldiers for taking the city and said that individuals who had distinguished themselves will get rewards.
The claims were made after a week in which Ukrainian soldiers advanced on Bakhmut’s northern and southern sides at their fastest rate in six months.
Prigozhin, who has frequently criticised Russia’s regular military for retreating from territory his troops had earlier taken, declared that his own soldiers would leave Bakhmut in five days to relax and would then turn over the ruins to the regular Russian army.
Prigozhin, who appeared in combat fatigues in front of a line of fighters holding Wagner banners and Russian flags, said in a video Bakhmut was completely taken at 12 noon.
He said that “they completely took the whole city, from house to house.”
Ukrainian military spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi, reacting to Prigozhin’s claims had told Reuters: “This is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut.”
Whether or not the Ukrainian troops have left Bakhmut, they have been gradually retreating to structures on the western outskirts of the city.
In the meantime, they have taken large portions of terrain from Russian forces to the north and south.
While Prigozhin claimed that the flanks around the city guarded by Ukrainian regular troops have crumbled, Russia has admitted to losing some territory near Bakhmut during the previous week.
