PUTIN CONGRATULATES RUSSIA TROOPS CAPTURING BAKHMUT; “FOR TODAY, BAKHMUT IS ONLY IN OUR HEARTS,” ZELENSKYY

Sun 21 May 2023:

Russia has claimed complete control of Ukraine’s Bakhmut, with President Vladimir Putin applauding his soldiers and the mercenary Wagner Group on their capture of the completely leveled eastern city.

The Russian announcement came just hours after Kyiv stated the combat was still going on while accepting the situation was “critical.”

The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that its forces have taken complete control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

Putin congratulates Russia troops, Wagner for ‘capturing Bakhmut’

Russian claims of capturing Bakhmut came hours after Ukraine said the battle for the eastern city was continuing. pic.twitter.com/CxKgZ4Utu4

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) May 21, 2023

“As a result of offensive actions by the Wagner assault units, supported by artillery and aviation of the Yug Group of Forces, the liberation of #Artyomovsk has been completed,” it wrote on Twitter.

Russian forces have been trying for months to capture Bakhmut, a transport and logistics hub in the Donetsk region, which is part of the largely Russian-speaking industrialized Donbas region.

“I think no … For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts,” Zelenskyy was quoted as saying by Reuters on the sidelines of the G7 Summit, when asked if the city is still under Kiev’s control.

BREAKING: Wagner Group chief claims his forces have taken control of Bakhmut pic.twitter.com/GSMfgpnq8l

— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) May 20, 2023

Putin congratulates

“Vladimir Putin congratulates the Wagner assault units, as well as all the servicemen of the units of the Russian Armed Forces, who provided them with the necessary support and flank cover, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk,” the Kremlin press service said in a statement.

"I think no … For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts," Zelenskyy pic.twitter.com/z5ILpsbr5c

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) May 21, 2023

Ukraine counteroffensive expected

Whether the Ukrainian forces have left Bakhmut or not, they have been slowly pulling back inside it, to clusters of buildings on the city’s western edge.

Meanwhile, to the north and south, they have seized swathes of territory from Russian troops.

Russia has acknowledged losing some ground around Bakhmut in the past week, while denying assertions by Prigozhin that the flanks around the city guarded by regular troops have collapsed.

Kyiv says its aim in Bakhmut has been to draw Russian forces from elsewhere on the front into the city, to inflict high casualties there and weaken Moscow’s defensive line elsewhere ahead of a planned major counteroffensive.

Bakhmut, a salt mining town that once had a population of 70,000 people, has been the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle in Moscow’s more than year-long Ukraine offensive.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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