2023-05-21 07:39:00
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar had claimed earlier on Telegram that Ukrainian defenders still controlled “some industrial facilities and infrastructure” and apartment buildings, although “the situation (is) critical”. This Sunday morning, President Zelensky seemed to confirm the loss of the city.
Moscow’s announcement follows that of Evguéni Prigojine, boss of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, who had already claimed a few hours earlier the capture of the city, epicenter of the fighting.
War in Ukraine: Zelensky seems to confirm the loss of Bakhmout, of which “nothing remains”
In conflict with the military hierarchy in Moscow, he pointed out that the capture of the city had taken “224 days” and that there were “only Wagner here”, no regular Russian army troops.
Yevgeny Pridozhin had regularly complained in recent days of a lack of support from the Russian army, believing that the bureaucracy in Moscow was putting “a spoke in the wheel” of his group and that five times as many men had died in Bakhmout because of the “whims” of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valéri Guérassimov.
According to him, his group will withdraw from the city from May 25 and leave its defense to the regular army, remaining available following rotation and training for future operations from Moscow.
If confirmed, the capture of Bakhmout would allow Russia to post victory following a series of humiliating reverses. It would also intervene before a major counter-offensive that kyiv says it has been preparing for months.
Ukraine, however, claimed this week the seizure of more than twenty square kilometers from Russian forces north and south of the city, endangering Wagner’s flanks, which are held by regular troops of the Russian army.
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