‘BAKHMUT MAY EVENTUALLY FALL IN COMING DAYS’: NATO CHIEF

Wed 08 March 2023:

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned that Bakhmut might fall into Russian hands in the coming days following months of intense fighting.

“We can not rule out that Bakhmut may eventually fall in the coming days,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Stockholm on the sidelines of a meeting of EU defence ministers.

US, Ukraine officials discuss situation in Kyiv and defence support

The head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, discussed the current situation in Kyiv and defence support to Ukraine with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

“Andriy Yermak informed [Sullivan] of the current situation at the front and the decisions made by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the military leadership regarding the course of the defence operation in the Bakhmut sector,” said a statement by the Ukrainian presidency following a phone conversation between the two officials.

The statement added that the officials also discussed ongoing international efforts to provide defence and financial support to Ukraine.

Yermak also thanked US President Joe Biden, both houses of the US Congress, and the American people for their “unwavering and strong support of Ukraine in its ongoing struggle for territorial integrity, freedom, and European democratic values”.

Russia’s Wagner Group ‘controls’ all of eastern Bakhmut

Russia’s Wagner Group of mercenaries has taken full control of the eastern part of Bakhmut, its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said.

“Units of the private military company Wagner have taken control of the eastern part of Bakhmut,” Prigozhin said in a voice recording on the Telegram messaging platform of his press service. “Everything east of the Bakhmutka river is completely under the control of Wagner.”

Independent Press could not independently verify the report.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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