Ukraine today assured that its forces are still advancing past Bakhmut in order to encircle the affected city. However, Moscow had previously congratulated a private group of Wagner mercenaries and the Russian military on taking over the city.

If the capture of Bahamut is confirmed, it will be the end of the bloodiest and longest battle of the war.

However, the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, General Oleksandr Syrsky, claimed that Ukrainian forces still controlled what he called a “minor” part of Bakhmut, but that this would allow them to enter the city when the situation changed.

Sirsky visited the front line near Bakhmut and thanked the soldiers who defended the area. As he wrote on Telegram, the forces of Kiev are advancing in the suburbs and are approaching their goal – the encirclement of the city, which had 70,000 inhabitants before the war.

A similar statement was made by Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hana Malyar. “Our forces have half surrounded the city, which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy […] the enemy will have to defend in the part of the city that they control, ”she said in a Telegram message, adding that the Ukrainians are still protecting industrial facilities and other infrastructure, and have also captured some neighboring heights.

Reuters was unable to confirm this information from the battlefield.

Source: APE-MPE, Reuters.