Kiev: Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed in the early hours of Sunday that the country’s private army ‘Wagner’ has captured Ukraine’s Bakhmut city with the help of Russian troops. Hours later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed this, saying that Bakhmut was “now only in our hearts”. Speaking at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Zelensky said he thought Ukraine had lost the city, but “you have to understand that nothing is left.” They have ruined everything.’ He said, ‘Today Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There’s nothing left.” The Russian ministry’s statement came on its Telegram channel eight hours after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigogyan made a similar claim. Ukrainian authorities said at the time that the fight for Bakhmut was still ongoing.
The eight-month battle for control of this eastern Ukrainian city is the longest and possibly the bloodiest in the war-torn country. Using the city’s Soviet-era name, Russia’s Defense Ministry said, “The Wagner private military company in the Artyomovsk strategic direction, with the support of artillery and aircraft from the Southern battle group, has completed the operation to liberate the city of Artyomovsk.” Russian state news agencies quoted the Kremlin’s press service as saying that President Vladimir Putin “congratulated Wagner’s assault troops as well as all the soldiers of the units of the Armed Forces of Russia who helped him liberate Artyomovsk.” In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner’s chief Prigogyan said that Bakhmut came under full Russian control on Saturday afternoon. The video showed six fighters accompanying Prigozhin and destroyed buildings behind them, while the sound of explosions could be heard in the distance.
However, after the video surfaced, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that the fighting was still going on. He had said, “The situation is serious. As of now, the control of some industrial and infrastructure facilities in the area is maintained by our security forces.” Fighting has been going on in and around Bakhmut for more than eight months. If Russian forces capture Bakhmut, they still have the daunting task of taking control of the rest of the Ukrainian-controlled Donetsk region. At the moment it is not clear which side has paid a higher price in the fighting in Bakhumat. Thousands of people are believed to have lost their lives in the city, both in Russia and Ukraine. However, neither side has disclosed the number of dead.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with the news agency in March. He had said that losing Bakhmut would help Russia garner international support for a deal that could have forced Kiev to accept unacceptable terms. Experts say that a defeat at Bakhmut would be a blow to Ukraine and could give Russia a strategic advantage, but it would not prove decisive in terms of the outcome of the war. Bakhmut is located 55 km north of the Russian-occupied regional capital of Donetsk. The population of the city is estimated to be around 80,000. Bakhmut is considered an important industrial center surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said capturing the city would help Russia advance its offensive in the Donetsk region, one of four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September. had taken possession of.
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