What is the situation in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut? The information provided by officials differs, as is so often the case. Now a Ukrainian fighter spoke.
Bakhmut - The fighting for 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 successes: As it was said on Friday (13 May), Ukrainian units had advanced by a good two kilometres near the embattled city. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also confirmed the territorial gains: Ukrainian troops had "stopped the enemy with overpowering efforts and even threw back on some sections," he said.
Russian war reporters have already spoken of an imminent encirclement of the Russians around Bakhmut. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian fighter spoke of a "local counteroffensive" to the Berlin Tagesspiegel. He gave information on the current situation. The information cannot be independently verified.
"At some point, Russian troops will be surrounded": Ukrainian Bakhmut fighter gives insights
Ukraine is beginning to "slowly push to the flanks" in Bakhmut, he explained. "At some point, the Russian troops will be surrounded." Russia would then be left with two options in Bakhmut: surrender or encirclement. The fighter did not name a time when the time could come. It depends on many factors that he did not elaborate on.
In any case, the morale of the Russian troops has been poor for quite some time, according to the Ukrainian soldier. "A prisoner told me six months ago that they were expecting an easy invasion of Ukraine, like in Crimea, which they took without a fight," he said in the interview.
Ukrainian soldiers drive a tank near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. © LIBKOS/dpa
Nevertheless, the fight against the Russians near Bakhmut is not easy, he stressed. "The Russians continue to push into the area that is under Ukrainian control," he explained, adding, "So the enemy will not be starved by shells."
Ukraine war: shortage of ammunition in Bakhmut? Wagner boss counted Kremlin
The interviewee was alluding to statements made by the head of the Russian mercenary force Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Prigozhin, also known as "Putin's cook", had complained loudly about the lack of ammunition in the first week of May 2023. And then threatened to withdraw his fighters from the front in Bakhmut. "Without ammunition, my guys will not bear unnecessarily high losses. That is why we are withdrawing from Bakhmut from May 10, 2023," he said in a video on his Telegram channel on May 5.
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If you don't give us grenades, you won't deprive us of victory, you will deprive the Russian people of victory.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin addressed words to the Kremlin
Just a few hours earlier, Prigozhin had sent savage insults in the direction of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. "Shoigu, Gerasimov, where, fucking shit, is the ammunition?" he shouted in another video showing him in front of corpses of alleged Wagner fighters. However, the withdrawal of the mercenaries from Bakhmut initially (as of May 13) turned out to be only an empty threat.
In an interview with the Tagesspiegel, the Ukrainian fighter assessed the repeated demands for more ammunition as "preparation in the event that the Russians are defeated in Bakhmut". The Wagner boss is "deliberately looking for an excuse" to shift the blame away from himself and onto Shoigu and Gerasimov.
"Flanks fall": Prigozhin blames Russian army - "flight"
On Friday (12 May), Prigozhin accused the Russian army of "fleeing" after months of fighting for Bakhmut. "The army's defensive lines in the area are 'collapsing' while the Russian military leadership is "downplaying" the situation, he said in a video. The Kremlin had previously denied reports by the Wagner boss and pro-Russian military blogger about a breakthrough by Ukraine in Bakhmut. In the area of Bakhmut, "the flanks are falling, the front is collapsing," the Wagner boss stated in the video distributed on online networks.
The Ukrainian also denied this information to the paper. According to him, the Russian 72nd Brigade withdrew, but "not because the soldiers ran away, but because they were defeated by the 3rd Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian army," he said. As a result, the already mentioned two kilometers near Bakhmut were recaptured. "They do not run away, but retreat under our blows," he stressed.
A Ukrainian commander made a similar statement in an interview with a CNN reporter. According to him, the Wagner units were the first to flee. According to the commander, the Ukrainian troops were not successful because the Russians escaped – but because they carried out a well-planned attack.
According to Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia "has already lost in people's minds": the Kremlin, according to him, is preparing for defeat. (MBR with dpa)