Head of Wagner group claims Russian flag 'hoisted' over Bakhmut administration building

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - The head of the Wagner mercenary group has claimed that its forces "hoisted" the Russian flag over the administrative building of the city of Bakhmut.

“April 2, 2023, 23:00 (2000GMT). We hoisted the Russian flag with the inscription ‘Good memory to Vladlen Tatarsky’ and the flag of PMC ‘Wagner’ on the city administration of Bakhmut. From a legal point of view, Bakhmut is taken. The enemy is concentrated in the western regions," Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed in an audio statement on Telegram late Sunday.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry claimed in a statement early Monday that Russian forces have been trying to storm Bakhmut, with Ukrainian forces in the region repelling more than 20 attacks, including in the direction of the village of Ivanivske.

“Vasyukivka, Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Novomarkove, Kostiantynivka, Hryhorivka, Bohdanivka, Bakhmut, Ivanivske, Chasiv Yar, Zalizne, and Niu (New) York of the Donetsk region were affected by enemy shelling,” the statement further claimed.

A later statement by Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, urged people to react "calmly" to "the fakes of those that invent a 'victory', which in reality do not exist."

Separately, in an evening address late Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he is grateful to soldiers fighting in the Donetsk region, especially near Bakhmut where he said fighting is “especially hot.”

Last Wednesday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Russian forces continued their attacks in the direction of Bakhmut with “partial success.”

Earlier in the day, Prigozhin claimed that the battle for the city of Bakhmut "almost destroyed the Ukrainian army" and "battered" his group.

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