In detail, the head of the press center of the “South” group of forces, Vadim Astafyev, said that the Russian army managed to prevent an attack attempt by a tactical group of a Ukrainian company on the Solidar-Bakhmut direction.
He added, “On the operational direction of Solidar-Artyomovsk (Bakhmut), an attack attempt by a Ukrainian tactical group at a company level was thwarted. During that, the enemy suffered losses in personnel and armored vehicles.”
The Russian officer noted that the crew of the group’s “Buk-M” air defense missile system managed to destroy two HIMARS missiles.
For his part, the pro-Russian governor of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, said that the Ukrainian forces are seeking to target the penetration of the side flanks in Bakhmut to complicate the advance of the Russian forces in the city itself.
“Comprehensive measures are currently being taken to prevent such a scenario from happening,” Pushilin said, according to what was reported by the Russian agency Sputnik.
He added, “Ukrainian forces are currently deliberately trying to infiltrate the flanks to create difficult conditions in Bakhmut itself and for the forces that are in the city. So of course, comprehensive measures are being taken.”
Regogin ruled out taking control of Bakhmut within days
For his part, the founder and leader of the Russian Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, revealed that the entire Ukrainian city of Bakhmut has not yet been controlled.
The Wagner commander added, in an audio statement posted on the Wagner Group account on the Telegram application, that fierce battles are now taking place in one of the city’s neighborhoods.
Yesterday, Thursday, Prigozhin revealed that his military units had advanced an area of 260 meters in Bakhmut, indicating that they had imposed control over about 180,000 square meters.
Prigozhin said: “Today (Thursday), Wagner units advanced in different directions up to a distance of 260 meters, and took control of land of 180,000 square meters in the city of Artyomovsk.”
And he added, “There is still 1.28 square kilometers of the city’s land under enemy control (yesterday it was 1.46 square kilometers),” according to what was reported by the Russian website Sputnik.
Prigozhin pointed out that the Ukrainian forces are resisting fiercely, and that “battles are continuing in every house and every meter,” explaining that “the enemy cannot be surrounded because the positions of the army units near Bakhmut are not lost.”
According to developments on the ground, it seems that Wagner and the Russian forces control more than 98 percent of the city, and only separate areas remain under the control of the Ukrainian forces, including the area of the MiG plane monument and the surrounding buildings at the southwestern entrance to the city.
#Thwarting #attempted #Ukrainian #attack #SolidarBakhmut #direction