War in Ukraine: Ukrainian forces seek to encircle Baghmouth, which Russia says it took

Russia said on Saturday it had taken full control of Pakmut, marking the end of the longest and bloodiest of the 15-month war. Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his regular forces and Wagner.

On Sunday, however, a Ukrainian general said Kiev forces still controlled a “small” part of Baghmouth, which would allow them to enter the city more broadly if the situation changed.

General Oleksandr Chirsky said in a Telegram message that Kyiv troops were advancing on Russian forces in the suburbs and closing the “tactical encirclement” of the city, which once had a population of 70,000.

“Our forces took the city in a semi-encirclement, which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy (…). The enemy will have to defend themselves in the part of the city they control,” said Hanna Maliar. Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense, in Telegram.

Ukrainian troops are still protecting industrial facilities and infrastructure and have claimed part of the heights above them, he added.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, later said in an audio message on Telegram that his group’s work was complete and that his forces would leave the conflict zone in the coming days.

“Today Wagner did not capture any area. We captured all the areas we promised to capture, down to the last centimeter,” he said. “As we said yesterday, we will hand over our positions to the (Russian) Defense Ministry and on the 25th (May) we will leave the conflict zone.”

Zelensky: ‘Photos of Hiroshima in ruins remind me of Bachmouth’

Military analysts say Pakmuth has no strategic value, saying Russia’s takeover would allow greater progress in the Donbass industrial region it claims annexes to Ukraine.

Reuters could not verify either side’s claims about the situation on the battlefield.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Russia suffered more than 100,000 casualties in Bagmut, the destruction of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, compared to the U.S. atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II.

“I’ll tell you frankly: the photos of Hiroshima in ruins remind me of Bagmouth and other similar places. There is nothing alive anymore, all the buildings are in ruins,” he told reporters on Sunday. Japanese city.

“To date, the Russian Federation has not yet captured Bagmouth. There are two or three possible explanations,” he added.