According to their own statements, the Russian mercenary group Wagner has taken a suburb of the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, which has been hard fought for months. Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin announced on Saturday that his fighters had taken “complete control” over the village of Yahidne. In the Telegram online service, the troops published a photo of masked men with a Wagner flag in front of the village sign, around two kilometers from the center of Bakhmut.
According to the Russian news agency Tass, the press service of the Wagner Group accused the Ukrainian troops of having blown up a dam near Bakhmut in order to slow down the advance of Russian fighters. This information might not initially be verified independently. Russia has been trying for months to bring Bakhmut under its control. The fighting for the industrial city has brought to light tensions between the Russian army and the Wagner mercenary group, which the Kremlin, however, denies.
The Battle of Bakhmut is the longest-running battle in the year-long Russian offensive. According to analysts, the city is of little strategic importance – a revenue would therefore have primarily symbolic value for Moscow.
