Defense forces still hold the defenses of Bakhmut, the city itself has buildings controlled by Ukraine. The Russians did not capture the city, as Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagnerites, claims.
This was stated by the spokesman of the Eastern Group of Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Colonel Serhii Cherevaty, reports RBC-Ukraine. According to the official, the Defense Forces hold the "Litaka" district and have fortifications, trenches, strongholds there, in particular in the South-Western part of the city.
Cherevaty noted that the statements of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the terrorist PMC "Wagner", regarding the complete capture of the city are not true.
"In order to probably preserve the remnants of his personnel and reputation, Prigozhin has no choice but to come up with such a special information operation: they say, I have already won and I am leaving, and then let the regular army deal with it, which he himself criticizes and says that she is not capable of anything. This is the country of surrealism," Cherevaty said.
The spokesman also emphasized that the Wagnerites have very heavy losses and are running out of personnel, unlike ammunition.
"They don't have a shortage of ammunition - they have serious problems with people, there is nowhere to replenish, the losses are huge," Cherevaty added.
According to Cherevaty, the actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Bakhmut are taking place within the framework of a successful defensive operation in the Bakhmut direction.
"We have achieved the main goals. We did not let them break through, break our battle formations, destroy our group fighting there, surround it. Besides, we inflicted huge losses on them," the official said.
Cherevaty said that one of the directions where the Armed Forces are moving successfully is towards Klishchiivka. There is also progress in the area of the Berkhiv Reservoir.
The deputy head of the Ministry of Defense, Hanna Malyar, assured that the Armed Forces took Bakhmut in a semi-encirclement.
The main combat operations in the Bakhmut direction are conducted precisely on the flanks. The goal of the Ukrainian defenders is to surround the enemy from the flanks.
