Confusion over Bakhmut’s status intensified on Monday when the leader of Russia’s Wagner Group said his mercenary forces would leave the battered eastern Ukrainian town by the end of the month and suggested the ministry Russian Defense sends its generals to hold the city.
Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin has so far repeatedly criticized the Defense Ministry as incompetent and accused its leaders of not controlling territory seized by Wagner’s troops. His announcement comes after he and the ministry claimed on Saturday that Bakhmut “is completely taken” after several months of intense fighting.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to confirm that claim on Sunday, but later his office said his army continued to control a small part of the city. On Monday, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Ukrainian troops occupied the hills to the north and south and began to encircle Bakhmut.
“They claim, with the help of propaganda, that they have taken the whole city under their control, but that is not the case,” she said.
Bakhmut had 70,000 inhabitants before becoming a crucial center of the war which left it practically abandoned.
“You have to understand, there is nothing left,” Zelesnkyy said on Sunday.
Ukrainian military leaders say their resistance has helped limit Russia’s capabilities elsewhere and enabled Ukrainian advances.
“The main idea is to wear them out and then attack,” Ukrainian Colonel Yevhen Mezhevikin, commander of a specialized combat group in Bakhmut, said on Thursday.
Developments:
∙ Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has urged the UN to hold a summit on the war as early as next month rather than wait for a high-level meeting scheduled for September.
∙ Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Wagner Group fighters and Russian troops for their efforts in Bakhmut, which Russia calls Artyomovsk, and promised that “all who distinguished themselves in battle will be recommended for decorations of State”.
∙ Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant spent hours running on emergency diesel generators on Monday after losing its external power supply for the seventh time since the start of the war. “The nuclear safety situation at the plant (is) extremely vulnerable,” tweeted Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. “We have to agree to protect (the) plant now.”
∙ Portugal is willing to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets, but sending warplanes ‘is not on the table’, Foreign Minister João Gomes Cravinho says to the newspaper Diário de Notícias.
∙ Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day have left three dead and 14 injured, according to Ukrainian officials. The Ukrainian Air Force said it shot down 20 Russian drones and four cruise missiles.
British: Russian army unhappy with air force performance
Russia is apparently creating a new elite attack aviation group named “Shtorm” to operate over Ukraine. The unit should consist of at least one fighter-bomber squadron and one attack helicopter squadron, according to the British Ministry of Defence. The mix of aircraft types suggests the group will have a primary role in ground attack missions, according to the Department’s latest wartime assessment. He says “credible” Russian media reports suggest the Defense Ministry hopes to attract highly skilled and motivated pilots by offering significant salary incentives and opening recruitment to retired airmen.
“The establishment of the group highlights how Russia believes its regular air force squadrons have seriously underperformed in their primary function of conducting airstrikes on Ukrainian lines,” the update said. day.
Russians against Russians in the border battles of Belgorod
The Ukrainian Intelligence Directorate has confirmed that the pro-Ukrainian Freedom Legion of Russia and the Russian Volunteer Corps operate in the Belgorod region of Russia, bordering Ukraine. The fighters, Russian military defectors and other Russian volunteers in the Ukrainian army, are occupying Russian villages to create a “safe zone” to protect Ukrainian citizens, leadership spokesman Andriy Yusov said.
“The Legion and the (Volunteer Corps) create a demilitarized zone on the border with the Russian Federation, from where they will not be able to bomb Ukraine,” the Legion said in a statement. “In the future, we are moving towards the liberation of all of Russia from Putin’s dictatorship and an end to the criminal war.”
Russian regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov called the efforts terrorism and introduced restrictions aimed at bolstering security. He said Russian security forces were taking “the necessary measures to eliminate the enemy”, state news agency Tass reported. He also said that most residents of border villages had left the area.
Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said the attacks were an attempt by kyiv to downplay the political impact of what Russia claims was Bakhmut’s downfall over the weekend.
Israel-like security model being considered for Ukraine, report says
Before Ukraine becomes a member of NATO, a process that would take years if it were to happen, it could protect its sovereignty through a security model similar to that of Israel that is currently being considered by the leaders of the military alliance and the United States, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. .
If implemented, the plan would bolster Ukraine’s defenses with continued deliveries of Western weapons and cutting-edge technology, but refrain from calling for NATO intervention in the event of a conflict with Russia, the newspaper said.
The security deal was broached by President Joe Biden and is gaining popularity as an agenda item for the NATO summit in July, according to the Journal, which quoted Polish President Andrzej Duda as saying: “Discussions on this one are ongoing at this time.”
Oligarchs evade sanctions and continue to fly private jets
An analysis of the sanctions that allowed the seizure of planes belonging to wealthy Russian oligarchs indicates that many continue to fly freely around the world. The Telegraph’s analysis in Britain indicates that many planes have been moved to friendlier limits before seizures can take place. Others were taken off the grid and registered under different tail numbers. Data from Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency shows an increase in private jet registrations last year. The opportunity to stop the war by sanctioning the oligarchs to turn on Putin has passed, said Sandeep Baliga, an economics professor at Northwestern University.
“What could have happened at the start of the war did not happen,” Baliga told the Telegraph. “Now the war has continued and the elite who wield power fear for their lives if they have to capitulate to the West.”
Russia issues arrest warrant for actor supporting Ukraine
The Russian Interior Ministry has issued an arrest warrant for Moscow-born movie star Alexey Panin. Earlier this month, TASS reported that authorities were investigating Panin for statements in which he “justified the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge”. After the October explosion that severely damaged the bridge built in Russia, Panin wrote on Telegram that he “cannot hide” his joy. Panin has a residence in Moscow but has reportedly lived in Spain since 2020.
Ukraine sued Panin in 2015 for “violation of the territorial integrity of the country” after he spoke out in support of Russian authorities’ actions after Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. later publicly apologized to the Ukrainians and said Russia had started a “war no one needed”. ”
Contributor: Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
