Russia said on Thursday that it was blocking Ukrainian forces in Bakhmout and preventing any reinforcements from entering the city, suggesting that Russian forces are about to take this city, the epicenter of fighting since last summer.
For its part, the Ukrainian army denied to AFP any blockade of its troops in the city.
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“
The assault groups (of the paramilitary group) Wagner are continuing high-intensity military operations to drive back the enemy from the central districts of Artyomovsk (the name given by the Russians to Bakhmout),” the Russian Defense Ministry said
. in his daily report.
"
The (Russian) airborne troops support the assault groups on the flanks, blocking the sending of Ukrainian army reserves to the city and the possibility of a withdrawal (from Bakhmut) of the enemy units"
, he continued.
Progress in the city center
Information denied on the Ukrainian side.
"
This does not correspond to reality
," military spokesman for the eastern zone Serguiï Tcherevaty told AFP, assuring that the Ukrainian army still had the possibility of "
delivering food products, ammunition, medicine
" in Bakhmout and to "
recover
" its wounded.
The leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, whose fighters are on the front line in the Battle of Bakhmout, himself felt on Thursday that it was still too early to speak of a complete encirclement of this symbolic city in the east of Ukraine.
“
The Ukrainian army continues to bring reinforcements and transfer them to the city.
Difficult and bloody fighting is underway, so it is premature to talk about a complete encirclement of Bakhmout
, "he said on Telegram, assuring that 80% of the city was nevertheless under Russian control.
In recent days, Ukrainian forces appear to have lost ground in downtown Bakhmut, where several Russian war correspondents have visited recently.
A city of some 70,000 inhabitants before the conflict, the city, now devastated, has been the scene of terrible fighting for months.
Due to the length of the battle and the heavy losses suffered by both sides, Bakhmout has become the symbol of the struggle between Russians and Ukrainians for control of the industrial region of Donbass, Moscow's stated objective.
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In recent months, Russian troops have advanced north and south of Bakhmut, cutting off several Ukrainian supply routes and seizing its eastern part.
In recent days, they seem to be progressing in the center of the city, again fueling speculation about a Ukrainian withdrawal to come.
On Monday, the head of the Russian occupation of Ukraine's Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, released a video showing him in central Bakhmut and in which he claimed the city was being "liberated
"
.
