Russia claims Bakhmut but ‘not over’ for Kyiv
MOSCOW: Russia said Saturday that it had captured the east Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, epicentre of the fighting, as President Vladimir Putin congratulated his troops and the private mercenary group Wagner.
The announcement from the Russian army came hours after Kyiv said the battle was continuing, while admitting the situation was “critical”, and with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky set to meet G7 leaders in Japan.
Bakhmut, a salt-mining town that once had a population of 70,000 people, has been the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle in Moscow’s more than year-long Ukraine offensive.
The fall of Bakhmut, where both 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 has 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 Sovietera 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, the TASS news agency quoted a Kremlin statement as saying.
Wagner’s boss Yevgeny Prigozhin earlier claimed the city had fallen to his mercenaries in a video on Telegram, in which fighters held Russian flags against a backdrop of ruins.
“Today on May 20, around midday, Bakhmut was taken in its entirety,” Prigozhin said in the video. Wagner fighters would search the captured city before handing it over to the Russian army, he said.
“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 and around 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”, she said.
“As of now, our defenders control certain industrial and infrastructure facilities in the area,” she said.
Mr Zelensky made a surprise appearance on Saturday at the summit in Hiroshima -another diplomatic coup a day after he attended the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia. The fruits of his diplomatic efforts have already paid off, with the US announcing Friday that it would allow Kyiv to acquire F-16 fighter jets, the most sophisticated material yet supplied by the West.
The International Criminal Court on Saturday denounced the previous day’s “unacceptable” move by Moscow to put ICC prosecutor Karim Khan on a wanted list over his issuance of an arrest warrant for Putin.
“The court will remain undeterred in the conduct of its lawful mandate to ensure accountability for the gravest crimes,” The Hague-based tribunal said.