What is the situation in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut? As is so often the case, the information provided by officials differs. Now a Ukrainian fighter spoke.
Bakhmut – The fighting in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut has been dragging on for months. The Ukraine war continues relentlessly. Recently, Ukrainian troops have apparently been able to achieve success: As it was said on Friday (May 13), Ukrainian units near the embattled city had advanced by a good two kilometers. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also confirmed the gains in territory: The Ukrainian troops “stopped the enemy with overwhelming efforts and even threw them back in some sections,” he said.
Russian war reporters spoke already from an imminent confinement the Russians around Bachmut. However, a Ukrainian fighter spoke of a “local counter-offensive” that had been launched Berlin daily mirror. He gave information about the current situation. The information cannot be independently verified.
“At some point the Russian troops will be surrounded”: Ukrainian Bakhmut fighter gives insights
In Bakhmut, Ukraine is “slowly starting to push its flanks,” he explained. “At some point the Russian troops will be surrounded.” Russia would then have two options in Bakhmut: surrender or encirclement. The fighter did not name a point in time when it could be so far. It depends on many factors, which he did not elaborate on.
In any case, the morale of the Russian troops has been low for some time, according to the Ukrainian soldier. “A prisoner told me six months ago that they expected an easy invasion of Ukraine, like Crimea, which they took without a fight,” he says in the interview.
However, the fight against the Russians near Bachmut was not easy, he emphasized. “The Russians continue to push into the territory under Ukrainian control,” he said, adding. “So the enemy will not be starved by shells.”
Ukraine war: lack of ammunition in Bakhmut? Wagner boss counted Kremlin
The interviewee was alluding to statements made by the head of the Russian Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin. In the first week of May 2023, Prigozhin, also known as “Putin’s cook”, complained loudly about the lack of ammunition. And then threatened to withdraw his fighters from the front in Bakhmut. “Without ammo, my boys won’t take unnecessarily high casualties. That is why we are withdrawing from the village of Bakhmut from May 10, 2023,” he said in a video on his Telegram channel on May 5.
If you don’t give us grenades, you don’t rob us of victory, you rob the Russian people of victory.
Just a few hours earlier, Prigozhin had lashed out at Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov. “Shoigu, Gerasimov, where the damn shit is the ammunition?” he shouted in another video, which showed him in front of the corpses of alleged Wagner fighters. The withdrawal of the mercenaries from Bachmut initially (as of May 13) turned out to be nothing but an empty threat.
The Ukrainian fighter appreciated the repeated calls for more ammunition in an interview with the daily mirror as “preparation in case the Russians are defeated at Bakhmut”. The Wagner boss is “deliberately looking for an excuse” to Shift the blame away from yourself and onto Shoigu and Gerasimov.
“Flanks fall”: Prigozhin blames the Russian army – “escape”
On Friday (May 12), Prigozhin accused the Russian army of “fleeing” after months of fighting over Bakhmut. “Army defenses in the area are ‘collapsing’ while the Russian military leadership is ‘playing down’ the situation,” he said in a video. The Kremlin had previously denied reports by the Wagner boss and pro-Russian military bloggers about a breakthrough by Ukraine in Bakhmut. In the Bachmut area, “the flanks are falling, the front is collapsing,” stated the Wagner boss in the video distributed on online networks.
The Ukrainian also denied this information to the newspaper. According to him, the Russian 72nd brigade retreated, but “not because the soldiers ran away, but because they were defeated by the 3rd assault brigade of the Ukrainian army,” is his view of the situation. As a result, the two kilometers near Bachmut already mentioned were recaptured. “They don’t run away, they retreat under our punches,” he emphasized.
A Ukrainian commander made a similar statement in an interview with a CNN-Reporter. According to him, the Wagner units were the first to escape. The Ukrainian troops were not successful because the Russians escaped – but because they carried out a well-planned attack, according to the commander.
According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russia has “already lost mentally”: According to him, the Kremlin is preparing for defeat. (mbr with dpa)