The commander of the Russian special group Wagner said today, Thursday, that Ukrainian forces are not leaving the city of Bakhmut and that fighting continues in the western part of the city.
“It must be clearly stated that the enemy is not going anywhere,” Yevgeny Prigozhin added in his Telegram channel.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky raised the possibility of withdrawing his troops from the city, saying Kyiv would make “proportional” decisions if they risked being surrounded by Russian troops.
Zelenskiy also said that Ukrainian forces are facing a really difficult situation in Bakhmut, and that Kyiv will make “appropriate” decisions to protect it if it faces the prospect of being surrounded by Russian troops.
He said Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut sometimes moved forward a bit before being pushed back by Russian forces, but remained in the city. He continued: “We are in Bakhmut, and the enemy does not control it.”
Pakhmut in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, which is largely controlled by Russia, proved to be one of the bloodiest and longest battles of the war.
The Kievan forces withstood the Russian attack, which resulted in heavy casualties on both sides, and the city, a mining and transportation hub, was reduced to rubble after months of street fighting and bombing.
“The most important thing for me is not to lose our soldiers, and of course, if events continue to escalate and we face the danger that we may lose our soldiers due to the siege, the generals there will certainly make the appropriate correct decisions,” Zelensky said. Zelensky apparently had in mind the idea of leaving.
But Hana Malyar, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, later said the situation at the front was “completely under control” despite Russia’s repeated attempts to seize Bakhmut and other cities in the east.
She wrote on the Telegram app that the Ukrainian military beat off dozens of shellings around Bakhmut, Liman, Avdiivka and Maryinka every day.
The Ukrainian military leadership stressed the importance of holding Bakhmut and other cities and inflicting casualties ahead of Kyiv’s expected counter-offensive in the east in the coming weeks or months.
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