Strongly in favor of privatizing armed conflicts, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday congratulated Wagner Group mercenaries for taking over the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, an enclave strategically important due to the war’s bloodiest battle in eight months. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denied from Hiroshima (Japan) that the city had fallen.
In a statement published on the Kremlin’s website, Putin said the longest battle of this war ended in a Russian victory. “The (Russian) head of state congratulated Wagner’s assault groups and members of the Russian armed forces units who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection during the operation to liberate Artemivsk,” the statement said.
The Russian spearhead in Bachmut were Wagner’s militias
In Russia, Bakhmut, which had a population of 70,000 before the conflict, is known as Artemivsk, as it was known until 2016.
The Russian spearhead in Bachmut were Wagner’s militias. Its founder and owner, oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced the capture of the city on Saturday. “The operation to kidnap Bakhmut, ‘Bajmut’s meat grinder’ lasted 224 days,” he said on Telegram.
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Yesterday in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, where he was attending the G7 summit, Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied that Ukraine had lost Bakhmut. “Today, Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation,” he said at a press conference.
With this statement he wanted to curb the ambiguous impression that he himself had left with an earlier ambiguous statement. “Today Bachmut is only in our hearts. “There is nothing in this place, only ruins and a lot of dead Russians,” said Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy compares Hiroshima, destroyed by the atomic bomb, with the destroyed Ukrainian cities
Taking advantage of the location from which he was speaking, the President of Ukraine added that the photos commemorated the destruction of Hiroshima, which was devastated in World War II by the first of the two atomic bombs dropped by the United States on Japan in World War II had him from Bakhmut and other destroyed Ukrainian cities.
From Ukraine it was insisted that the fight goes on. The commander-in-chief of the land forces, General Olexánder Sirski, assured in the telegram that his troops are trying to advance on the flanks to encircle the city.
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Bakhmut is located about 55 kilometers from Donetsk, the capital of the province of the same name, and was considered a strategic point in the Russian advance westward in the autumn and winter to take Sloviansk and Kramatorsk and eventually completely control this province. But with the arrival of spring, the scenario has changed.
Now it is Ukraine that is preparing a counter-offensive with Western weapons to recapture the territories occupied by Russia. It remains to be seen what role Wagner’s men will play.
Prigozhin and his people have been at odds with the Defense Ministry, led by Sergei Shoigu, for months. The oligarch, who is considered close to Putin, accuses the military commanders of not having sent them enough ammunition and supplies. In scandalous messages and videos published on social networks, Prigozhin did not hesitate to directly insult Shoigu and the Chief of the General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov. Three weeks ago, he uploaded a gruesome image of dozens of his men’s bodies to the internet. In foul and aggressive language, he accused the Ministry of killing its mercenaries and threatened to withdraw from Bakhmut.
After the Kremlin chief’s congratulations, received yesterday, Prigozhin and his soldiers of fortune appear strengthened to play a prominent role in the fighting to come.
Wagner’s boss insists on his fight with Shoigu: “Practically nobody from the army helped us”
On the other hand, Prigozhin has used the conflict to step out of the shadows, realize that he was Wagner’s boss, which he had denied for years, and become one of the most iconic faces of the conflict in Russia. This has sparked speculation about his possible political ambitions, which could obviously lead to hostilities in Russian power circles.
Keeping up with the defense might also hurt him, considering Shoigu has always been a man very close to Putin. In his Telegram message, he insisted on this challenging position. He accused the high command of using “military bureaucracy” to hinder Wagner and underestimated the role of the Russian regular forces in Bakhmut: “Virtually nobody from the army helped us,” he claimed.