The Russian mercenary group says it controls the eastern Ukrainian city “in a legal sense,” while Kiev says it “keeps holding on.”
By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 4/3/2023 at 6:13 AM, updated 4/3/2023 at 7:22 AM
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A Ukrainian tank on March 11 in the Bakhmout region. ARIS MESSINIS / AFP
Russian paramilitary group Wagner called for the capture of Bakhmout’s town hall on Monday, saying that capture means it now controls the city “in a legal sense,” while Ukraine, for its part, is making sure it still controls this location in eastern Ukraine own land where fierce fighting has been raging for months.
“Legally, Bakhmout was captured. The enemy is concentrating on the western areas,” said Wagner boss Evgeny Prigojine on Telegram. A video accompanying his message shows him waving a Russian flag with an inscription in honor of Vladlen Tatarsky, the Russian military blogger and ardent defender of the offensive in Ukraine, who was killed by a bomb blast on Sunday. According to the authorities, 25 were also injured in this attack in a cafe in the historical center of Saint Petersburg.
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“Raise That Flag”
“The commanders of the units that took the city hall and the whole center will raise this flag,” said Yevgeny Prigozhin. “This is the Wagner Private Military Company, this is the guys who kidnapped Bakhmout. Legally, it’s ours,” he said.
The Ukrainian General Staff claimed the opposite. “The enemy did not stop their attack on Bakhmout. However, the Ukrainian defenders are valiantly holding the city, repelling numerous enemy attacks,” the Ukrainian General Staff said on its Facebook page on Sunday evening. “Bakhmout, Avdiivka and Maryinka remain at the center of hostilities,” he added in his update Monday morning. “The enemy does not stop its attacks on Bakhmout and tries to take complete control over it. Our soldiers repelled more than 20 enemy attacks,” he continued.
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Bakhmout, a town of about 70,000 before the conflict, has been the scene of particularly fierce fighting for months. Due to the length of the battle and heavy losses on both sides, the city has become a symbol of the struggle between Russians and Ukrainians for dominance in the Donbass industrial area. Russian troops have advanced north and south of the city in recent months, cutting off several Ukrainian supply routes and seizing the eastern part. On March 20, Yevgeni Prigojine claimed Wagner controls 70% of Bakhmout.
Ukraine believes the battle for Bakhmut is essential to contain Russian forces across the eastern front, although analysts say the city’s strategic importance is limited. In his speech on Sunday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy admitted that the situation in Bakhmout was difficult for his troops.
“It is hot !”
“I am grateful to our warriors fighting near Avdiivka, Maryinka and Bakhmout. Especially Bakhmout! It’s particularly hot there today!” said Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The situation in the region is “still very tense,” said Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar on Sunday before Wagner’s boss made the announcement. “The enemy is trying to attack not only Wagner’s fighters, but also professional paratrooper units. Excessive casualties don’t stop the enemy,” she added.
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About 27 km from Bakhmout, in Kostyantynivka, a Russian bomb attack killed six people and wounded 11, according to Ukrainian authorities on Sunday. President Zelenskyy reacted that these were “only residential areas”, “ordinary civilians of an ordinary town of Donbass” who were attacked. AFP journalists saw a large crater in a courtyard in two 14-story buildings and broken windows from the ground floor to the upper floors. The roofs of the neighboring houses were smashed.
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Police said Russia carried out a “massive attack” in the morning, six S-300 and Hurricane missile strikes. A total of “sixteen apartment buildings, eight private apartments, a kindergarten, an administration building, three cars and a gas line” were affected, she said.