The founder of the Russian “Wagner” group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced full control of Bakhmut (eastern Ukraine), and said that his forces will start leaving the city next Thursday and hand it over to the Russian army, but a spokesman for the Ukrainian army command in the east confirmed that the battles are still continuing in the city.
Standing alongside armed men in front of destroyed buildings, Prigozhin announced – in a videotape broadcast by his media service on Telegram – that “at noon today, Saturday, Bakhmut has been completely controlled.” The founder of the Wagner Group said that his forces fought alone in Bakhmut, “contrary to what a spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense said.” He added that his forces will withdraw from Bakhmut, starting from May 25, to rest and retrain, and to hand over control to the Russian army.
On the other hand, the spokesman for the Second Eastern Operations Command, Sergei Shirevati, denied that Wagner’s forces had taken control of Bakhmut. He said that Ukrainian forces were repelling attacks in the southwest of the city. The spokesman added that Bakhmut remains the main target of the Russian forces, “but the southwestern region is still under our control. We are repelling the enemy’s offensive attempts there, and the fighting is also continuing towards Liman, Marinka and Avdiivka.”
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