Replies

Wagner Declares Full Capture Of Bakhmut After 224 Days Of Fighting

Head of the Russian private military group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has announced Saturday that after months of grinding warfare and heavy casualties, Russia has now taken full control of the strategic city of Bakhmut.

Prigozhin is announcing final victory and that Bakhmut has finally fallen. “The operation to capture Bakhmut lasted 224 days” he said in a video posted to Wagner’s Telegram channel. “Today at noon, Bakhmut was fully captured,” he declared.

Western media reports have said they can’t verify the claims, but headlines in Reuters and the Associated Press are widely reporting the Wagner chief’s declaration of victory:

In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke flanked by about half a dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance.

But the mainstream media reports are also highlighting Ukraine’s rejection of claims that the city has finally fallen. Yet, as the AP underscores, Ukrainian officials have lately admitted the situation was already dire for their forces:

However, after the video appeared, Ukrainian deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar said heavy fighting was continuing.

“The situation is critical,” she said. “As of now, our defenders, control certain industrial and infrastructure facilities in this area.”

Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern command, told The Associated Press that Prigozhin’s claim “is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut.”

Western media has been hyping Ukrainian “gains” of late in Bakhmut, but that doesn’t look to have ultimately been the case. Likely as verification comes of Russia’s control of the key city in Donetsk, there will be a lot of downplaying of the significance by US and Western officials.

It could also make Zelensky’s G7 trip in Japan more awkward. He’s expected to meet with President Biden and other G7 leaders on Saturday. Top on the agenda for Zelensky will be requests to expedite fighter jets to Kiev, and it looks like the Western allies are slowly moving in that direction. But the elephant in the room will be growing doubts even among the most ardent of Kiev’s supporters of whether Ukraine can in fact ‘win’... no matter how much military equipment they are given by Western backers.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/wagner-declares-full-capture-bakhmut-after-224-days-fighting

Zelensky compares Bakhmut destruction to Hiroshima
· 7m · on MSN

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/zelensky-compares-bakhmut-destruction-to-hiroshima/ar-AA1btIoH

Bakhmut echoes Hiroshima, Zelenskyy says as he thanks G7 for F-16 fighters
· 19m
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-bakhmut-hiroshima-g7-japan-f-16-fighters-rcna85455

I’m surprised the Japanese aren’t insulted with the Hiroshima comparison. But Biden found another more than $300 million to give Zelenskyy and promises to train Ukrainian pilots on F16.