The “TASS” agency quoted a statement by the Kremlin stating that “Putin congratulated the Wagner offensive units, as well as all the soldiers of the Russian armed forces units who provided them with the necessary support to complete the operation to liberate Artemovsk,” the Soviet name for Bakhmut.
And “TASS” had quoted the Russian Ministry of Defense as saying in a statement: “The attack teams of the Wagner Military Group, with the support of artillery and aviation from the Southern Battle Group, have completed the liberation of the city of Artyomovsk.”
The head of “Wagner”, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced on Saturday that his forces had taken control of Bakhmut after the longest battle in the ongoing war in Ukraine, but Ukrainian defense officials denied this.
In a video posted on Telegram, Prigozhin said the city came under full Russian control around midday on Saturday.
About half a dozen fighters spoke alongside him, with destroyed buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance.
But after the video clip appeared, the Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister, Hana Malyar, said that fierce fighting was still going on.
“The situation is critical… So far, our defenders control some of the industrial facilities and infrastructure in this area,” Maliar added.
In turn, Sergey Chervaty, spokesman for the Eastern Command of the Ukrainian army, said that Prigozhin’s claim “is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut.”
The Ukrainian General Staff also said in a statement on “Facebook” that “the fierce battles for the city of Bakhmut do not stop.”
“This is not the first time that Prigozhin has said that they have taken over everything and controlled everything,” said Mykhailo Podolak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He also noted that the Wagner chief’s statement aims to draw attention away from Zelensky’s recent trips abroad, including the G7 summit in Japan on Saturday.
With Russian forces in control of Bakhmut, they would still be faced with the monumental task of capturing the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas.
It is not clear who paid a heavy price in the Battle of Bakhmut, as both Russia and Ukraine suffered casualties believed to be in the thousands, although neither of them disclosed the number of casualties.
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