The leader of the Russian Wagner mercenary organization claims to have flown the Russian flag above the Ukrainian city hall in Bakhmut.
Yevgeny Prigozhin declared Bakhmut to be Russian “in a legal sense” in a nighttime video.
He did, however, acknowledge that Ukrainian soldiers were still largely concentrated in western areas.
Ukraine has asserted that Bakhmut, a city in the east that Russia has been attempting to take over for months, is still being held by its soldiers.
On Sunday night, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces released a statement. that although Russia had continued to attack the city, “Ukrainian defenders are courageously holding the city as they repel numerous enemy attacks”.
Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff for President Volodymyr Zelensky, has pleaded with people to “calmly respond to the fakes of those who invent a ‘victory’ that does not exist in reality.”
Hanna Maliar, the deputy minister of defense for Ukraine, called the Wagner claim “a funny fake.”
In the video, Mr. Prigozhin claimed that the flag had a tribute to Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, who perished in an explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg on Sunday.
Even though Russian troops were aiming to encircle the city from the south and east, according to analysis by the Institute for the Study of War, Ukraine still controlled a large portion of it as of Sunday.
The ISW claims that as it approaches from the east, the city council building is in a section of the city that Russia recently annexed.
During the fighting in Bakhmut, Wagner—officially referred to as a private military company—has sustained significant losses.
In order to increase the group’s size, many of its members are prisoners who have been freed from Russian prisons.
Along with the Wagner soldiers, regular Russian military personnel are also engaged in combat in Bakhmut.
Throughout the battle for control of the city, thousands of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have perished; it is believed that Russian fatalities have significantly outweighed Ukrainian losses.
Although Bakhmut has limited strategic significance, Ukraine has considered it as a significant drain on Russia’s military resources.
The Russian military are hoping that seizing Bakhmut will serve as a launchpad for more territorial conquests.
Taking the city would “possibly allow Russia to threaten the major urban centers of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk,” the UK Ministry of Defence said in December.
In the meantime, a new onslaught by Ukrainian forces against currently occupied Russian territory is anticipated to begin in the following weeks.
When long-promised Western supplies, including German Leopard tanks, arrive in the nation, the operation is anticipated to start.
