‘Bakhmut not lost but razed to the ground’
RUSSIAN mercenaries claimed yesterday to have taken the besieged city of Bakhmut “down to the last centimetre”.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin boasted about his forces’ triumph despite President Zelensky’s insistence that Ukraine retains some control.
The conflicting accounts came as evidence from all sides suggested the former regional capital was in ruins and its 73,000 population scattered.
Footage from the former mining centre shows lines of burnt-out buildings, dotted with fires and billowing smoke plumes.
Warlord Prigozhin, who posed with a Russian flag on the embattled city’s streets on Saturday, bragged: “There is not a single Ukrainian in Bakhmut. It has been taken completely, totally, down to the last centimetre.”
But Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesman for the Ukrainian army’s eastern group, said though the fighting was heavy, parts of the city remain under their control.
“The city has, in fact, been razed to the ground,” he said. “The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult.”
Meanwhile, his colleague General Oleksandr Syrskyi said they held enough ground in east Bakhmut to be able to enter the boundaries.
They were coming ever closer to a “tactical encirclement” of the Russians after advancing on them around the suburbs.
Hanna Malyar, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, added: “The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut, and they lost part of the dominant heights around the city,”
On Saturday, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin congratulated his forces – includingWagner.
But analysts pointed out that even if Russia succeeded in taking Bakhmut, it has no strategic importance.
Moscow is thought to have 20,000 troops in what has turned into the most savage land battle since the SecondWorldWar.