“Russian TV Channels Celebrate ‘Historic Victories’ in Bakhmut Battle with Ukrainian Forces”

Russian TV believes that the conquest of Bakhmut is “a victory of historic proportions”. One expert is not surprised that the Putin regime is now using the Ukrainian city for all its propaganda value.

When Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin already early on Saturday claimed that Bakhmut had been taken, there was little reaction from the Kremlin-controlled media.

On the evening of Saturday, however, there was a confirmation from the Ministry of Defense and then congratulations from President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine has not confirmed that the city has fallen.

The following day there is a big report on Russian TV:

• In the TV channel Pjervyj, a Wagner soldier goes so far as to compare with “the feelings of the grandparents in Berlin”.
• It referred to when “the Red Army” entered the German capital and the Hitler regime capitulated in 1945.

– The Russians are trying to make as much propaganda as possible out of this before the Ukrainian counter-offensive. Bakhmut is not really that important, says Stig Fredrikson, author and former Moscow correspondent, to VG.

The independent media Medusa have collected how the major Russian TV channels presented the news on Sunday (Artyomovsk is the Russian name for Bakhmut):

• Pjervyj channel states that “Artyomovsk is ours” and that it is “an event of historic proportions”. There is talk of a “strategic” victory and “a great tactical success for our forces”. It is said that those who have distinguished themselves will be decorated with orders of heroism by President Vladimir Putin. The battle is said to have lasted seven and a half months – and nothing is said about the number of Russian lives lost. In contrast, it is said that soldiers remained in this battle even though their contract with the armed forces had expired.
• Russia-1 also celebrates and establishes that the city is of operational importance. They believe that it opens the direct and shortest route to Dnipro. They show a burnt-out Ukrainian tank and say that “on it there is a cross – the symbol of Nazism, against which our soldiers fight bravely”.
• NTV also portrays it as a victory over Nazism. “The last neo-Nazis have been driven out of town,” it says. The TV channel makes no attempt to hide that the victory has come thanks to the Wagner group – “with the support of artillery and air forces” – and that President Putin has congratulated.

– This is a feather in the cap for Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, so one can slowly think about what this means for the relationship between Prigozhin and the Russian leadership, both the military and the political, says Fredrikson.

– Why has Bakhmut become such an important battle?

– It has become a lot of prestige for the Russians, and they needed to get a victory. From what I understand, Bakhmut has fallen, so it’s not surprising that Moscow will get as much propaganda as they can out of this.

– They hope to use Bakhmut as a symbol for the continuation.

There was some confusion on Sunday about Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s statements about Bakhmut. The president was first quoted as saying that the city has fallen completely into Russian hands, but later this was portrayed as saying that the entire city has been laid in ruins – but that Ukrainian soldiers still hold the last quarters of a city that before the war had just over 70,000 inhabitants .