By Le Figaro with AFP
Posted 10 hours ago, updated 9 hours ago
Russia on Tuesday, January 31, announced the capture of the village of Blagodatné in the Donetsk region, where fighting has intensified in recent weeks.
Russia on Tuesday (31 January) claimed responsibility for capturing the village of Blagodatné north of the eastern Ukraine town of Bakhmout, where the Russian army has stepped up its offensive and has made slow progress for several weeks.
The Ministry of Defense pointed out in its daily press release that “the village of Blagodatné had been liberated after an offensive by ‘voluntary attack units’ supported by aviation and artillery”. Volunteers are the Russian military’s euphemism for paramilitary groups like Wagner fighting in Ukraine.
Wagner statement
Wagner’s boss, the sulphurous Evguéni Prigojine, had called for his men to capture the village on Saturday, something Kyiv had denied. The Russian army and Wagner have been trying to take Bakhmout, a town of 70,000 before the conflict, since the summer.
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For several weeks they have been intensifying their encirclement offensive and in January, with heavy losses, they take the town of Soledar and the neighboring villages.
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