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This is the alleged moment a Russian flag was raised over the administrative building in Bakhmut.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the private military group Wagner, claimed today that his soldiers have ‘legally’ captured the city of 70,000 people in east Ukraine.
‘From a legal point of view, Bakhmut has been taken. The enemy is concentrated in the western parts,’ he said in an audio message posted on his press service’s Telegram account.
Fighting in Bakhmut began last May, but Russian forces only advanced in January and February, making the battle there one of the most protracted during the war.
Prigozhin’s claim of victory comes despite assurances from Ukrainian officials, who dismissed the video as a stunt and said its army still holds the city.
In his nightly address, Volodymyr Zelensky indicated that fighting was continuing to heat up.
But the president gave no indication the city had fallen in the hands of Vladimir Putin’s shadow army.
Bakhmut and several other towns including Avdiivka were at the ‘epicentre of hostilities’, a statement from Ukraine’ military said last night.
‘The enemy continues its assault Bakhmut. But our defenders courageously hold the city,’ it said.
Zelensky thanked soldiers fighting in Avdiivka, Maryinka, and Bakhmut. ‘Especially Bakhmut. It is especially hot there,’ he stressed.
Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar had previously described the situation in the city as ‘tense’.
She said Ukrainian forces were defending their positions, while Russia’s were paying scant attention to losses as they attacked.
Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said fighting had engulfed the centre of Bakhmut.
Ukrainian forces had repelled 25 enemy attacks, but enemy troops had captured the AZOM metal plant.
‘The enemy is attacking the city centre from the north, the east and the south and is trying to take the city under its full control,’ Zhdanov, who has close ties to the Ukrainian military, said in a video on YouTube.
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