On Monday, Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group claimed it had seized the city hall in Ukraine’s eastern town of Bakhmut, giving it “legal” authority, but Kyiv said its forces still controlled the town.
The battle for Bakhmut has raged for months with Wagner supporting Russian armies and Ukraine warning the fall of the town would lead to the loss of huge swathes of its territory.
Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin posted a video on his Telegram channel showing him carrying a Russian flag, which he said his forces would plant on Bakhmut’s city hall.
This is the Wagner private military company, these are the guys who took Bakhmut. In a legal sense, it’s ours.”
Prigozhin said.
Ukrainian military leaders said on Monday after Prigozhin’s video was released that opponent troops had attempted to take control of the town, but their forces had “repelled more than 20 enemy attacks”.
President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier on Sunday praised Ukrainian troops’ defense of the city, much of which now lies in ruins.
I am grateful to our warriors who are fighting near Avdiivka, Maryinka, near Bakhmut… Especially Bakhmut! It’s especially hot there today!”
Zelensky said on Telegram.
In Kostyantynivka, a town about 27 kilometers (17 miles) from Bakhmut, a “massive attack” of Russian missiles left three men and three women dead and eleven wounded Sunday, Ukrainian authorities said.
The attack targeted residential areas where ordinary civilians were living, Zelensky said.
There was a gigantic hole in a yard and windows were shattered from ground to top floors in two 14-story tower blocks, while private homes nearby had smashed roofs, AFP journalists saw.
Liliya, a 19-year-old psychology student, stood outside her severely damaged high-rise block. She added that everything is bombed out. And I think it’s like that in every flat. Because it was such an impact that it was very hard for anything to stay unbroken.
Earlier on Sunday, a leading Russian military blogger and fervent defender of the military offensive in Ukraine was killed by a bomb attack at a cafe in St Petersburg, investigators said. fervent
Vladlen Tatarsky was reportedly killed after receiving a gift equipped with an explosive device at an event organized by Cyber Front Z, which refers to itself on social media as Russia’s information troops.
The blast occurred at Street Food Bar No. 1, located along the Neva river not far from the historic city center, with the interior ministry saying police had been called to the scene at 6:13 pm (1513 GMT).
Officers cordoned off the street outside the building with around 20 police cars, alongside six ambulances as well as fire trucks, according to an AFP journalist at the scene. Around two dozen other people were injured. Russia’s foreign ministry paid tribute to Tatarsky on Sunday, saying he was among “defenders of the truth” and lashing out at Western governments for failing to react to the attack.
Russian journalists constantly feel the threat of reprisals from the Kyiv regime.”
Maria Zakharova-spokeswoman said on Telegram.
