[1/3] A general view shows an empty street and buildings damaged by a Russian military strike as Russia’s assault on Ukraine continues, in the frontline town of Bakhmut, Ukraine, March 3, 2023…. Read more
- Moscow claims the eastern Ukrainian city has been completely captured
- The Battle of Bakhmut is the bloodiest of the 15-month war
- Zelensky compares the destroyed Bachmut with Hiroshima
- In Japan, the G7 pledge to support Ukraine
KIEV, May 21 (Portal) – Ukraine said on Sunday its forces were still advancing around the edges of Bakhmut and aiming to encircle the devastated eastern city after Moscow led Wagner’s private army and Russian troops to capture it congratulated the city.
Russia announced on Saturday that it had completely taken Bakhmut, which if confirmed would mean the end of the longest and bloodiest battle of the 15-month war. Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his regular troops and the Wagner Group.
On Sunday, however, a senior Ukrainian general said Kiev’s forces still controlled what he saw as an “insignificant” part of Bakhmut, although that would allow them to enter the city if the situation changed.
General Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a Telegram post that Kiev’s troops are advancing on Russian forces in the suburbs and are approaching a “tactical encirclement” of the city, which used to be home to 70,000 people.
Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, said Sunday he had visited frontline positions near Bakhmut, where fighting has been raging for more than nine months. Syrskyi’s claim that Ukrainian forces were continuing their advance along the flanks of the city was confirmed by Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar.
“Our forces have semi-encircled the city, which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy…the enemy must defend themselves in the part of the city they control,” Maliar said on Telegram.
Ukrainian troops were still defending industrial and infrastructure assets and had claimed part of the overlooked heights, Maliar said.
In the last 24 hours, the Russian offensive around Bakhmut has not abated, including air strikes on the town and village of Ivanivske in the western apron, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in a statement.
Later Sunday, Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an audio message on Telegram that his group’s work was done and his forces would leave the conflict zone within days.
“Wagner didn’t conquer any territory today. We conquered all the territory that we promised to conquer to the last centimeter,” Prigozhin said. “As we explained yesterday. We hand over our positions to (Russia’s) Ministry of Defense and leave the conflict zone on May 25.”
According to military analysts, Bakhmut has no strategic value, although Moscow has said its capture would be a springboard for deeper penetration into the Donbas industrial region, which it allegedly annexed from Ukraine.
Portal was unable to verify either side’s battlefield reports.
Zelenskyy compares Bakhmut with the “destroyed Hiroshima”
Over the past week, Ukrainian forces on Bakhmut’s northern and southern flanks have made the fastest advances in six months, with Russia acknowledging some setbacks for its troops.
Kiev says its goal was to lure Russian forces into the city from elsewhere on the front lines, intending to inflict heavy casualties there and weaken Moscow’s defenses elsewhere before planning a major Ukrainian counteroffensive.
US President Joe Biden said Russia suffered more than 100,000 casualties at Bakhmut, the destruction of which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy compared to the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima in Japan in World War II.
“I’ll tell you frankly: photos of destroyed Hiroshima absolutely remind me of Bakhmut and other similar settlements. Nothing is alive, all buildings are destroyed,” he said while attending a Group of Seven summit in the Japanese city on Sunday.
“To date, Bakhmut has not been captured by the Russian Federation. There are no two or three interpretations for that,” he told reporters.
In his nightly video address on Sunday aboard an airplane, Zelenskyy said: “The world is hearing our position. Defense, security guarantees, the restoration of all our territories and all of our people, justice, the implementation of our peace plan.”
The capture of Bakhmut — which refers to Soviet-era Russia as Artemovsk — would be Moscow’s first major victory in the conflict in more than a decade.
The battle over Bakhmut has shown that the rift between Wagner, who recruited thousands of convicts from Russian prisons, and the regular Russian military is widening. For the past two weeks, Prigozhin has been publishing daily video and audio messages denouncing Russia’s military leadership, often in rants peppered with profanities.
The leaders of the world’s richest democracies said at the G7 summit that they would not refrain from supporting Ukraine.
Zelenskiy, who held a private meeting with Biden in Hiroshima, said he was confident Kiev would receive F-16 fighter jets from the West after months of lobbying for the planes.
Biden said F-16s did not help Ukrainian forces regarding Bakhmut but could “make a huge difference when it comes to dealing with what lies ahead.”
writing by Alexandra Hudson; Edited by Frank Jack Daniel
Our standards: The Thomson Portal Trust Principles.