« Ain the legal sense, Bakhmout was captured », said Evguéni Prigojine, head of Wagner, on his Telegram channel. According to the latter, the Russian paramilitary group would have taken Monday April 3 the town hall of Bakhmout, in the east of Ukraine, which has become a strategic stake in the war with Russia. « The enemy is concentrated in the western areas »says Yevgeny Prigojine.
A video accompanying his message shows Yevgeny Prigojine waving a Russian flag with an inscription in honor of Vladlen Tatarsky, a Russian military blogger fervent defender of the offensive in Ukraine killed Sunday by the explosion of a bomb. This attack in the historic center of Saint Petersburg also injured 25 people. « The commanders of the units who took the town hall and the whole center will go and hoist this flag »said Yevgeny Prigozhin. « Here is the Wagner Private Military Company, here are the guys who took Bakhmout. From a legal point of view, it is ours »he shouts.
A few hours earlier, however, the Ukrainian general staff claimed to still hold Bakhmout. « The enemy did not stop their assault on Bakhmout. However, the Ukrainian defenders bravely hold the city repelling numerous enemy attacks »he said on his Facebook page.
Zelensky recognizes a difficult situation
A city of some 70,000 inhabitants before the war, Bakhmout has been the scene of particularly violent fighting for months. Due to the length of the battle and the heavy losses suffered by both sides, the city has become the symbol of the struggle between Russians and Ukrainians for control of the industrial region of Donbass.
Russian troops have advanced in recent months north and south of the city, cutting several Ukrainian supply routes and seizing its eastern part. On March 20, Yevgeny Prigojine claimed that Wagner controlled 70% of Bakhmout. Ukraine believes that the battle for Bakhmut is essential to contain Russian forces on the entire eastern front, even if analysts judge the strategic importance of the city limited.
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In his Sunday evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged that the situation in Bakhmout was difficult for his troops.
« I am grateful to our warriors fighting near Avdiivka, Maryinka and Bakhmout. Especially Bakhmout! It’s particularly hot down there today! », said Volodymyr Zelensky. The situation in the region « is always very tense »underlined for her part on Sunday the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Ganna Maliar, before the announcement of the head of Wagner. « The enemy is trying to engage not only Wagner’s fighters but also professional paratrooper units. Excessively high man casualties do not stop the enemy »she added.
A « massive attack » of missiles
About 27 km from Bakhmout, in Kostiantynivka, a Russian bombardment on Sunday left six dead, three men and three women, and 11 wounded, according to the Ukrainian authorities. These are « just living quarters », « ordinary civilians from an ordinary town in Donbass » who were targeted, reacted President Zelensky.
AFP journalists saw a large crater in a courtyard and shattered windows from the ground floor to the upper floors in two 14-storey buildings, while the roofs of neighboring houses were shattered. The police claimed that Russia had carried out in the morning a « massive attack »or six S-300 and Ouragan missile strikes « Sixteen apartment buildings, eight private residences, a kindergarten, an administration building, three cars and a gas pipeline »have in total been affected, she pointed out.
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Lilia, a 19-year-old psychology student met outside her badly damaged apartment building with shards of glass still falling from the windows as she spoke, said to herself « shocked ». « I was very lucky not to have been home at that time »she confided.
Nina, a retiree, was looking at the damage done to her apartment on the ground floor of a Soviet-era building. She was also not at home when the explosions occurred. « The interior doors and the front door have been blown out. An internal separation wall has broken down. There’s not a single window left »she explained.
Mortar fire also killed two people in the Sumy region (northeast), according to Volodymyr Zelensky.
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