Wagner claims control of Bakhmut, Ukraine denies

ALBAWABA - Russian private military Wagner Group announced control of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, however, Ukraine denied this, despite the worsening situation in the city recently.

The head of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced on Telegram, at dawn on Monday, that his forces had raised the Russian flag over the administration building in Bakhmut.

He said in a short video that "legally speaking, Bakhmut has been taken, and the enemy is concentrated in the western provinces."

However, the Ukrainian Army Staff denied that the Russian forces had taken control of the city of Bakhmut.

It confirmed in a post on Facebook, that the Ukrainian defenders "bravely control the city," despite their response to more than 20 attacks by Russian forces in Bakhmut.

The Ukrainian military said that Russian forces continue to storm Bakhmut.

Spokesperson for the Eastern Ukrainian Military Command said in media statements that the place where the Russian forces raised their flag, which it said was the headquarters of the Bakhmut administration (Artyomovsk), "is not known", adding that it "falsely claimed to have taken over the city."

On Sunday, six people were killed in a Russian missile strike targeting the city of Kostyantynivka in eastern Ukraine, about 27 km from the city of Bakhmut.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier Sunday that the military situation around the city of Bakhmut is "very inflamed," noting that two people were killed in a Russian mortar attack in the northern Sumy region.

Bakhmut is witnessing one of the bloodiest battles in the Russian war on Ukraine, which entered its second year in February. It was inhabited before the war by 70,000 people, but after that only a few thousand remained in certain areas within the city.

There were heavy losses on both sides, and the Russian bombardment destroyed large parts of the city.

The Ukrainian army has been making every effort to preserve Bakhmut and not let Wagner control it. Ukraine says that Wagner's control on this city, on particular, paves the way for Russia to control more cities.