BAKHMUT: Russia’s Wagner mercenary on Monday claimed to capture Ukraine’s eastern town of Bakhmut, after an intense battle for months.
However, Ukraine said that its forces still held the important town.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said his mercenaries captured the bombed-out city and raised a Russian flag on the city hall, the administrative building of Bakhmut.
The fight for Bakhmut had raged for months, with Wagner assisting Russian troops and Ukraine putting fierce resistance to save the town’s fall.
Prigozhin uploaded a video on his Telegram channel screening him holding a Russian flag, which he said his troops would plant on Bakhmut’s city hall.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and military top brass said on Monday after Prigozhin released video that Russian troops had attempted to take control of Bakhmut, but their forces had “repelled more than 20 enemy attacks”.
Earlier on Sunday, Zelensky praised Ukrainian troops for defending the city, much of which now lies in ruins. He said on Telegram that he was grateful to the warriors who were fighting near Avdiivka and Maryinka near Bakhmut. It was especially hot there today!
In Kostyantynivka, a city about 27 kilometres from Bakhmut, Ukrainian authorities said a “huge attack” of Russian missiles left three men and three women dead and 11 wounded Sunday.
Zelensky said the missile attack targeted residential areas where “ordinary civilians” lived.
There was a huge crater in a yard and windows were smashed from ground to top floors in two 14-storey tower blocks, while private residential homes nearby had smashed roofs, AFP journalists saw.
Ukrainian too military commanders earlier said that as part of their own counteroffensive was not waning, but stressed the importance of defending Bakhmut.
