Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russian forces are not occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscow’s claims the eastern Ukrainian city has fallen.
Responding to a reporter’s question about the status of the city at the G7 meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, Mr Zelensky said: “Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today.”
The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasion’s longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter.
Mr Zelensky’s response in English to a question earlier at the summit about the status of Bakhmut was interpreted by many as saying the city had fallen to Russian forces.
“For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing in this place,” Mr Zelensky said in those earlier comments on Sunday, adding that the fight had left nothing in Bakhmut but a lot of “dead Russians”.
Ukrainian soldiers were still engaging Russian forces in fierce battles in and around Bakhmut on Sunday, military officials said, hours after Moscow and the private army Wagner announced their troops had taken full control of the eastern city.
The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasion’s longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter.
Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minster Hanna Malyar even went so far as to say that Ukrainian troops “took the city in a semi-encirclement”.
“The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut, and they lost part of the dominant heights around the city,” Ms Malyar said.
“That is, the advance of our troops in the suburbs along the flanks, which is still ongoing, greatly complicates the enemy’s presence in Bakhmut.”
Her comments came after Mr Zelensky, at the G7, appeared to suggest that Bakhmut had fallen.
When asked if the city was in Ukraine’s hands, Mr Zelensky said: “I think no, but you have to – to understand that there is nothing. They’ve destroyed everything. There are no buildings. It’s a pity. It’s tragedy.”
Mr Zelensky’s press secretary later walked back those comments.
And the spokesman for Ukraine’s Eastern Group of Forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said that the Ukrainian military is managing to hold positions in the vicinity of Bakhmut.
“The president correctly said that the city has, in fact, been razed to the ground. The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult.
“Our military keep fortifications and several premises in the south-western part of the city. Heavy fighting is under way,” he said.
Only hours earlier, Russian state new agencies reported that President Vladimir Putin congratulated “Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk,” which is Bakhmut’s Soviet-era name.
Russia’s Defence Ministry also said that Wagner and military units “completed the liberation” of Bakhmut.
At the G7, Mr Zelensky stood side by side with US President Joe Biden during a news conference. Biden announced $US375 million ($564 million) more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery and vehicles.
“I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine),” Mr Zelensky tweeted later.
The new pledge came after the US agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine.
Mr Biden said on Sunday that Mr Zelensky had given the US a “flat assurance” that Ukraine wouldn’t use the F-16s jets to attack Russian territory.
-AP
