“Russian Forces Capture Bakhmut: Moscow and Kiev in Communication War”

All Sunday, Moscow and Kiev have been in a communications war over whether Russian forces have finally captured the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

Russia said on Saturday evening that it had completely captured the devastated eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, ending the longest and bloodiest battle of the 15-month war so far, Reuters reported. Later, the information was confirmed personally by Vladimir Putin.

The Russian president on Sunday congratulated the private military company “Wagner” and the regular Russian army for capturing Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, Reuters reported. In a statement posted on the Kremlin’s website, Putin said the battle for Bakhmut had ended in victory for Russia and that all those who distinguished themselves during the fighting would receive state awards.

Meanwhile, on Sunday morning, Western media reported that from the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Japan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the loss, relying on his short speech. Asked if Ukrainian forces had held back or if Russia had taken the city, Zelensky said: “You have to understand that there is nothing there. Today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts,” AFP reported. Reuters quoted the president as saying, “I think not,” when asked if Kiev still had control over the city.

Hours later, however, Volodymyr Zelensky’s spokesman denied that the Ukrainian president had confirmed the fall of Bakhmut. “The president denied the fall of Bakhmut,” spokesman Sergiy Nikiforov said on Facebook.

World agencies later reported that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced at the G7 summit that “to date, Bakhmut is not occupied by Russia”.

Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Ganna Malyar added in “Telegram” that Ukrainian forces have partially surrounded the city. “The advance of our troops on the flanks continues, which makes it very difficult for the enemy to be present in Bakhmut. Our forces have partially surrounded the city,” Malyar wrote.

The assault on the largely razed city was led by fighters from the Wagner mercenary group, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said earlier Saturday that his troops had finally pushed the Ukrainians out of the last built-up area in the city, BTA recalled.

Kiev initially rejected Prigozhin’s claim on Saturday. “This is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut,” said the spokesman of the Eastern Command of the Ukrainian army, Serhiy Cherevaty. And Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said the situation in Bakhmut is critical, but Ukrainian forces continue to defend the southwestern part of the city. “There is heavy fighting in Bakhmut. The situation is critical,” Millar said in Telegram. “For now, our defenders control the same industrial and infrastructure sites in the area and also in the private sector,” she added.

The capture of Bakhmut, called by Russia by its Soviet name Artemovsk, would be Moscow’s first major victory in the conflict in more than 10 months.

“As a result of the offensive actions of Wagner’s amphibious assault troops, with the support of the artillery and aviation of the Southern Army Group, the liberation of Artyomovsk has been completed,” the Russian Ministry of Defense announced.

The statement comes after a week in which Ukrainian forces achieved their fastest victories in six months in the northern part of Bakhmut and on the southern flanks.

Prigozhin, who has repeatedly lambasted the regular Russian army for abandoning positions previously taken by his men, said that in five days his own forces would withdraw from Bakhmut for a rest and hand over the ruins to the regular army.

“Today at 12 noon, Bakhmut was completely captured,” Prigozhin said in a video in which he appeared in combat uniform before a line of his soldiers holding Russian flags and Wagner banners.

“We completely took over the whole city, house by house,” Prigozhin said.

Whether Ukrainian forces have left Bakhmut or not, they are slowly withdrawing inside it, towards separate groups of buildings on the western edge of the city.

Meanwhile, in the northern and southern directions, Ukrainian forces have recaptured territory from Russian troops.

Russia admitted it had lost some of its positions around Bakhmut last week, while denying Prigozhin’s claims that the flanks around the town guarded by regular troops had been breached.

Kiev claims that its purpose in Bakhmut was to draw Russian forces from elsewhere on the front into the city in order to inflict heavy casualties on them and weaken Moscow’s defensive line elsewhere before a planned major counteroffensive.