Russia declares it has captured Ukraine city of Bakhmut
Russia has declared it has captured the battered east Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
Russia has declared it has captured the battered east Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, as President Vladimir Putin congratulated his troops and private mercenary group Wagner.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to confirm the loss from Japan on Sunday, saying there was “nothing left” of the city.
Asked if Ukrainian forces were holding on or if Russia had captured the city, Mr Zelensky was not entirely clear, but said “you have to understand there is nothing” there.
“For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts,” he said.
The announcement from the Russian army overnight on Saturday came hours after Kyiv said the situation was “critical”.
Bakhmut, a salt-mining city that once had a population of 70,000 people, has been the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle in Moscow’s 15-month Ukraine offensive.
The fall of Bakhmut, where Moscow and Kyiv are believed to have suffered huge losses, would allow Moscow to bring home a key victory after a series of humiliating defeats.
It would also come before a major counter-offensive that Kyiv has been preparing for months. Mr Zelensky, in Japan for the G7 summit, had previously warned that the fall of the city would open the way for Russian troops to capture more parts of Donbas.
“As a result of offensive actions of the Wagner assault units, with the support of artillery and aviation of the ‘Southern’ unit, the liberation of the city of Artemovsk was completed,” Russia’s defence ministry said, using the Soviet-era name of Bakhmut.
“Vladimir Putin congratulated the assault units of Wagner as well as all servicemen of units of the Russian armed forces who provided them with the necessary support and flank cover, on the completion of the operation to liberate” the city, TASS news agency quoted a Kremlin statement as saying.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin earlier claimed the city had fallen to his mercenaries in a video posted on Telegram, in which fighters held Russian flags against a backdrop of ruins.
“By May 25 we will completely examine (Bakhmut), create the necessary lines of defence and hand it to the military,” he said.
Ukraine, which this month claimed successes in Bakhmut, said earlier that the battle was not over. “Heavy fighting in Bakhmut. The situation is critical,” Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar posted on Telegram. Ukrainian troops were “holding the defence” in the city’s “Airplane area”.
Russia’s announcement that the city had fallen came hours before Mr Zelensky’s meeting on Sunday with US President Joe Biden in Hiroshima.
The fruits of his diplomatic efforts had already paid off, with the US announcing on Friday that it would allow Kyiv to acquire F-16 fighter jets, the most sophisticated material yet supplied by the West.
Ukraine has been pleading for the planes to replace its ageing and war-battered Soviet-era fleet, but Mr Biden had previously said the US would not approve transfers, as Washington worried about provoking Moscow and becoming directly involved in the war.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the F16 transfers would not upset the key balance Washington wants in supporting Ukraine “in a way that avoids World War III”.
He said the powerful warplanes would be used only for defence.
Mr Prigozhin meanwhile continued his running battle with Russia’s military establishment.
“The operation to capture Bakhmut – the Bakhmut meat grinder – lasted 224 days,” he said, wearing a camouflage uniform. Moscow’s losses would have been far smaller if it was not for incompetent generals, he said.
Wagner is believed to have suffered huge losses in the months-long storming of the city. Mr Prigozhin has complained about Wagner not being given appropriate amounts of ammunition. “There was only Wagner here,” he said in the video. “We fought not only the Ukrainian army here, we fought Russian bureaucracy.”
He blamed Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov for turning the offensive into “their own amusement”.
AFP
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