The head of the Russian private army, Wagner, said on Thursday that Ukrainian units have already launched a counterattack and are approaching Bakhmut from the flanks, and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation claims that its paratroopers are supporting the advance in the west of the city, writes Novosti. ro with reference to Reuters.

Reuters says it has been unable to independently verify any of the claims, which have emerged amid an increasingly bitter dispute between Wagner’s chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and Russia’s Defense Ministry.

In his audio address on his Telegram channel, Prigozhin noted that the Ukrainian operations were, “unfortunately, partially successful.” According to him, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, wanted to lead on false leads when he said that Ukraine’s expected counteroffensive is still being delayed because it has not yet received all the necessary help from allied countries. Prigozhin says that in fact the counteroffensive continues in full swing around Bakhmut.

Russian troops led by Wagner launched a bloody assault on the city in the east of Donetsk last summer. Prigozhin said last week that his forces controlled 95 percent of the city, but threatened to withdraw unless Moscow delivered more ammunition to his fighters.

On Wednesday, both Prigozhin and the Ukrainian military said that Kyiv forces had withdrawn a Russian army unit near Bakhmut, a significant advance for Ukraine. Prigozhin repeatedly blamed senior Russian military officials for depriving his force of ammunition and blamed them for riots around the city.

However, in its usual daily briefing on Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry did not mention the alleged withdrawal and said that, on the contrary, the troops were continuing their offensive. “Assault groups continue their offensive on the western part of the city of Artemivsk,” said a representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, using the Soviet name of the city, Bakhmut. “The paratroopers provided them with support and blocked the units of the Ukrainian army from the flanks,” he added.

Moscow says the capture of Bakhmut will allow it to launch further offensive operations in eastern Ukraine. Zelenskyi and the West played down the city’s strategic importance to Russia, although Kyiv has repeatedly refused to withdraw its troops, saying it would cause losses for the Russians and prevent them from advancing and occupying new territories.

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