3/4/2023–|Last updated: 3/4/202306:07 AM (Makkah)
The Ukrainian General Staff kills the Russian forces’ control of the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk Province, eastern Ukraine, hours after the head of the Russian private military company Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced raising the Russian flag and the Wagner flag on the administrative building in the center of the city of Bakhmut.
The Ukrainian General Staff stated on its Facebook page, “The enemy did not stop its attack on Bakhmut, but the Ukrainian defenders bravely controlled the city, and repelled many enemy attacks,” referring to the Russian forces and their loyal separatists.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had said earlier on Sunday that the situation in the city of Bakhmut was particularly hot on Sunday, in addition to the regions of Kremina, Belogrivka and a number of cities and towns in eastern Ukraine. Zelinsky said that the bombing, which targeted western Bakhmut, killed 6 people and wounded 11 others.
A few weeks ago, President Zelensky warned, in a television interview, that if the Russian forces captured Bakhmut, the “road will be open” for Moscow’s forces to seize many cities in the east of the country.
The Ukrainian denial came hours after the head of Wagner announced that his fighters had raised the Russian flag and the flag of his forces on the administrative building in the city center of Bakhmut. Prigozhin acknowledged that Ukrainian forces are still present in the western parts of Bakhmut.
“legal” control
“From a legal point of view, Bakhmut has been seized,” Wagner’s chief said in a message from Two Voices on the Telegram website, after raising the Russian flag on the symbol of power in the city, which is the administrative building in the center of Bakhmut.
And Russia Today reported that Prigozhin said in a video clip that the commanders of the Russian forces units, “who are in charge of managing the city and its entire center, will hang and raise banners and flags.”
Prigozhin: “April 2, 2023, 23:00. We hoisted the Russian flag with the inscription “Good memory to Vladlen Tatarsky” and the flag of PMC “Wagner” on the city administration of Bakhmut. Legally Bakhmut is taken. The enemy is concentrated in the western… pic.twitter.com/ZvU7Csos2S
— Russian Victory is Inevitable ???????? (@WinRussiawill) April 2, 2023
Earlier, the Russian military website, “Riyadovka”, reported that Wagner’s fighters were fighting fierce battles in the southwest of the city, and gradually penetrating the Ukrainian defenses, as he put it.
And the so-called Acting President of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” Denis Pushilin announced last Tuesday that the industrial zone of the city of Bakhmut has been fully controlled and the Ukrainian forces have been expelled from it.
Serhiy Sobko, Deputy Commander of the Regional Defense Forces of the Ukrainian Forces, announced the increase of the number of his forces to tens of thousands, after it was 6 thousand before the war. Sobko added that all units of the Regional Defense Forces have combat experience, and participate in the counterattack in the axes of Bakhmut, Donetsk and Kharkiv.
Bakhmut gained symbolic and tactical importance after the Russian forces were unable to control it, despite the passage of more than 7 months of fierce battles.
Bakhmut suburbs
In the context of the Bakhmut battles, the Ukrainian authorities announced the killing of 6 civilians and the wounding of 8 others in Russian bombing on Sunday morning on the town of Kostyantinivka, which is located 20 kilometers west of Bakhmut.
“The Russians carried out intense bombing on the town of Kostyantynivka,” said Andrei Yermak, director of the Ukrainian President’s Office, via the Telegram application, adding that 16 residential buildings, 8 houses, a kindergarten and an administrative building were damaged in the bombing.
The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that the pace of Russian attacks in Bakhmut decreased significantly, noting that the Russian forces did not achieve any confirmed gains in and around this city during the clashes last Saturday.
A report by the institute indicated that heavy snowfall in the Bakhmut region, and fluctuating weather conditions, slowed the progress of the Russians in the city.
Winter offensive
Overall, ISW said the Russian army’s winter offensive in eastern Ukraine “failed to achieve the Kremlin’s goals of capturing the administrative borders of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions by March 31, 2023.”
#Bakhmut Update:#Russian forces did not make any confirmed gains in or around Bakhmut on April 1. The Bakhmut area recently received heavy snowfall and weather conditions may have slowed Russian advances in the city.https://t.co/5A4xcPwA1e https://t.co/Yvo1vpjJZ9 pic.twitter.com/E7LSTLoxLo
— ISW (@TheStudyofWar) April 2, 2023
The institute indicated that this vision is widespread among Russian, Ukrainian and Western sources alike.
He added that there is speculation among Russian military commentators that Moscow may soon make a change to its top military leadership in the wake of the failure of the attack, according to the institute.
The American Institute stated that the Russian Chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, who was appointed last January as commander of the forces in the war zone that Russia calls a special military operation, did not meet the expectations of President Vladimir Putin.