Wagner Advances in Bakhmut

By Staff, Agencies

Russian forces and the Russian private military company Wagner Group seized the center of the eastern city of Bakhmut during the 58th week of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

Wagner group made advances into the center of Bakhmut on March 31. Geolocated footage showed them within 400 meters of the town hall.

Two days later, after an overnight battle Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky described as “especially hot”, geolocated footage showed Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin raising a Russian flag over the city hall. “From a legal point of view, Bakhmut has been taken,” Prigozhin said in an audio message.

Wagner was also understood to have gained complete control of the AZOM industrial complex.

By April 3, the Russian forces had likely advanced in southern Bakhmut closer to the Avangard Stadium, and Russian military bloggers said on April 4 that Wagner forces captured the Bakhmut-1 railway station.

The battle for Artyomovsk/Bakhmut has emerged as one of the most intensive and bloody engagements of the armed conflict in Ukraine, with both sides reportedly suffering significant casualties. Western officials have claimed that the city poses no strategic military value, but Zelensky pledged to defend it as long as possible after proclaiming the city a fortress.

Kiev’s attempts to cling onto Bakhmut, regardless of the losses, has “almost destroyed the Ukrainian army,” Prigozhin claimed earlier this week. However, Wagner fighters, who led the charge to capture the Donetsk People’s Republic city, also took “a serious beating,” he acknowledged.