Amid conflicting news about controlling Bakhmut, the founder of the "Wagner" group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced today (Monday) that the Russian flag was raised over the city's administration headquarters, stressing that his forces had taken control of it in a "legal sense", but the Ukrainian army stated that it was still in control of the city. Bakhmut located in eastern Ukraine.
The director of the Ukrainian President's office, Andriy Yermak, denied the rumors about Russia's control of Bakhmut, stressing that the city is still "Ukrainian". He added that this "is not even close to reality." The Ukrainian General Staff reported that the Russians did not stop the attack on Bakhmut. But the Ukrainian defenders controlled it and repelled many attacks.
And circulated pictures showed the founder of “Wagner” raising the Russian flag on the Bakhmut administration building. He said that the commanders of the units of the Russian forces, who are in charge of managing the city and its entire center, will hang and raise banners and flags. He added that the commanders of the units that took control of the municipality and the entire city center would raise this flag.
The Russian news agency, Novosti, stated that the fighting is currently taking place in the central part of Bakhmut, and that the Russian forces approached the main railway, while the Ukrainian presidency confirmed that the city is still under the control of the Ukrainian forces, and that the news of the control of the Russian forces about it is incorrect.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the military situation around the city of Bakhmut, which has been besieged by Russian forces for months, as "very inflamed."
Zelensky added, in a nightly speech via video conference, that two people were killed in a Russian mortar attack in the northern Sumy region. He pointed to reports reported earlier that Russian bombing killed six people in the city of Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. Zelensky warned weeks ago, in a television interview, that if the Russian forces captured Bakhmut, the "road will be open" for Moscow's forces to seize many cities in the east of the country.
Okaz (Moscow, Kiev) @okaz_online
