In an audio statement posted on the Wagner Group’s Telegram account, the head of the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organization, said.
Ukrainian earnings
Ukraine has announced further gains on the ground in the fierce fighting around Bakhmut, in the latest gains that appear to indicate a changing battlefield in the region after a months-long Russian offensive. Kiev said last week it had stepped up pressure on Russian forces north and south of Bakhmut, but added that Russia had continued to send more troops, including paratroopers. Soldiers of an anti-aircraft unit watch the fighting on tablets from their posts outside the city, while shells echo nearby. “Now that we have started advancing, they (the Russians) are bombing all the paths to the outposts so that our armored vehicles cannot deliver soldiers, ammunition and other items,” said Petro Boudaro, the unit commander. “The enemy conducts (air) reconnaissance daily. They conduct frequent sorties,” said a Ukrainian soldier who went by the name Barber. “This time right now they are sending more Lancets (the Russian military march). We are trying to operate, we are trying to monitor them and of course we are trying to destroy them,” he added. The anti-aircraft unit said its location could not be revealed for security reasons.
Moscow sees the city of Bakhmut as a stepping stone to controlling the rest of the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine. The city had about 70,000 inhabitants before the Ukrainian war, which started about 15 months ago.
Ukrainian officials stress that the advance around Bakhmut is not part of a larger counteroffensive planned by Kyiv to repel Russian forces.
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