to update: 05/21/2023 20:44
Issued by: 05/21/2023, 20:42
Kiev / Moscow – Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Maliarova said today in a telegram on the social network. According to her, the Russian forces have to defend themselves in the parts of the city they control due to the partial Ukrainian blockade. Serhiy Cherivati, spokesman for the Eastern Group of Ukrainian Forces, stated that the Ukrainian forces managed in the past 24 hours to advance about 200 meters in some parts of the Bakhmut region. Russia claims to have already captured Bakhmut.
Maliarova practically repeated her report on Saturday about the state of Ukraine’s defense of Bakhmut, even after the Kremlin announced last night “the completion of the operation to liberate Arthomovsk (Bakhmut’s name from Soviet times, note by ČTK)”. The capture of Bakhmut was also announced by Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Wagner’s Russian mercenary group, whose forces led the attack on the city.
“The advance of our troops on the outskirts along the flanks, which is still continuing, makes it very difficult for the enemy to stay in Bashmut,” he said. I wrote On the telegram of the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Maliarova.
“Our defenders are holding several defensive buildings and installations in the southwestern part of the city. Where there is less risk of losses, our units are trying to advance and launch counterattacks. Specifically, in the last 24 hours, in some sections, there have been Ukrainian forces Sherevati, according to what was reported by the Union Agency, in a television broadcast.
Oleksandr Serskij, Commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, came to the front today to thank the Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the Bakhmut region. to meet the soldiers published Video on Telegram, where he also reiterated his statement from earlier in the day that the Ukrainians were advancing on the flanks and that the small part they directly control in Bakhmut would serve as their gateway to the city if the situation changed.
In addition to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also denied today’s complete loss of Bakhmut. Zelensky said today before a meeting with US President Joe Biden in Hiroshima, Japan, on the sidelines of the G7 summit. A few hours later, Zelensky reiterated that “Ukrainian soldiers are still in Bakhmut and the city has not been occupied by Russia until today.”
Today in Hiroshima, Biden reiterated a previously published US estimate that Russia lost nearly 100,000 soldiers in the battles for Bakhmut, of whom 20,000 were killed and 80,000 wounded.
