The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, on Sunday, said he raised a Russian flag over Bakhmut's city hall in Ukraine.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a night-time video, said Bakhmut was now Russian “in a legal sense.” But, he said that Ukrainian forces were still concentrated in western districts.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in the meantime, said, fighting in the city of Bakhmut is "particularly hot". Zelenskyy in his nightly address gave no indication that the city had fallen to Russia. Prominent Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said fighting had engulfed the city centre, Reuters reported.
"The enemy has not stopped its assault of Bakhmut. However, Ukrainian defenders are courageously holding the city as they repel numerous enemy attacks," the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine told BBC. On March 30, it was confirmed that about 6,000 Wagner group troops were fighting in Bakhmut. At the time, Ukrainian military officials said that Russian troops have made progress on the frontlines of Bakhmut. But, maintained that they were still holding on.
After Prigozhin’s video was released, Ukrainian military leaders said that enemy troops had tried to take control of the town, but their forces had “repelled more than 20 enemy attacks”. Zelenskyy on Sunday praised Ukrainian troops’ defence of the city. “Thank you to our soldiers who are fighting in Avdiivka, Maryinka, and Bakhmut,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. “Especially Bakhmut. It is especially hot there,” he said.
