Russian mercenaries and Wagner’s troops continue to advance in the area of ​​Bakhmut, a city that has been fighting fiercely since last year and is not yet fully under the control of the invading forces. To mark the Russian advance, some of Wagner’s PMK mercenaries posed for a photo at the same spot where Zelenskyy posed with the Ukrainian military when he visited the Bakhmut front last December.

Wagner’s mercenaries, photo in the same place where Zelenskyi met with Ukrainian defendersPhoto: Photo collage

Wagner’s forces appear to have captured at least one section of the AZOM metalworking plant in the northern city of Bakhmut.

They were photographed in the Vostokmash enterprise building, next to the sanitary ware store, supposedly in the same building where President Zelensky awarded medals to the defenders of the city in December.

The background of the images now looks the same as in the December photos of Zelenskyi and the Ukrainian military.

Before Christmas, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, unexpectedly visited the front line in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, where fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops has been going on for months.

Then the head of Kyiv met with the Ukrainian military and awarded them, the President’s Office reported.

Ukrainian general: The situation around Bakhmut is difficult, all Russian attacks have been repelled

The situation around Bakhmut remains difficult, but Ukrainian forces are repelling all attempts by Russia to capture the city, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Monday, Reuters reports.

“The situation around Bakhmut remains difficult,” Syrskyi said on the Telegram channel of the Military Media Center of Ukraine.

“All the enemy’s attempts to capture the city are repelled by artillery, tanks and other firepower,” said Sirskyi.

Boss Wagner demands a huge amount of ammunition per month for Bahmut

The head of the Russian PMC “Wagner” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video message that he will run in the presidential elections next year – but not in Russia, as temporarily assumed, but “in Ukraine”, reports DPA.

In the same video published on his Telegram account, Prigozhin states that PMK “Wagner” needs 10,000 tons of ammunition per month for the battle for the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. He filmed the video on the roof of a building in a largely destroyed city, about 1.2 kilometers from the administrative center, which is held by Ukrainian forces.

Syrskyi added that Wagner’s group of Russian mercenaries “is attacking from several directions, trying to break through the defenses of our troops and advance towards the central areas of the city.”