Ukrainian forces are still aiming to encircle the key city of Bakhmut even as Russian forces claimed to have captured the territory. Kyiv said its forces were still advancing around the edges of the city as fighting for control of Bakhmut has been taking place for months.
On Sunday, Ukrainian General Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a post on the Telegram messaging platform that Ukrainian troops were advancing on Russian forces in the suburban areas of Bakhmut and are close to a “tactical encirclement” of the city. Syrskyi, who oversees the Ukrainian forces on the ground, also said he visited the front-line positions near Bakhmut. Syrskyi’s comments were echoed by deputy Ukrainian defense minister Hanna Maliar.
“Our forces have taken the city in a semi-encirclement which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy…the enemy has to defend himself in the part of the city he controls,” said Maliar in a Telegram post. Maliar added that Ukrainian troops were still holding defenses in the industrial and infrastructure facilities and still had claims on the overlooking heights.
Later on the same day, the head of the Russian Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an audio message on Telegram that Wagner has done its job and that they will be leaving the area soon.
According to military analysts, Bakhmut has no strategic value, but Russia has said that capturing the city would bring Moscow closer to further advancing in the Donbas region that it has already claimed to have annexed last year.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy compared the current state of Bakhmut to the devastation in Hiroshima during World War II at the G7 Summit in Japan, which he attended in person. Zelenskyy told reporters that seeing photos of Hiroshima, which was destroyed by an atomic bomb, reminded him of Bakhmut and other similar territories.
“Nothing left alive, all the buildings ruined,” said Zelenskyy, adding that Ukrainian forces are continuing to hold their defenses in Bakhmut and are carrying out “important tasks.” Zelenskyy also said he hopes that he could see the same kind of reconstruction in Hiroshima on Bakhmut after the war.
Photo: Dn.gov.ua/Wikimedia Commons(CC by 2.0)