BAKHMUT (News Agencies): The leader of the Russian private military company Wagner, Evgeny Prigozhin, has claimed victory in the battle for the city of Artyomovsk (also known as Bakhmut in Ukraine) by publishing a video allegedly showing the Russian flag hoisted over the city’s administrative building.
Prigozhin announced the victory and also acknowledged the death of a prominent Russian military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky, who was killed in an apparent bomb blast in St. Petersburg on the same day. While Ukrainian military leaders claim to have repelled over 20 enemy attacks, Prigozhin claims that Bakhmut is legally taken and the enemy is concentrated in the western districts.
The battle for Artyomovsk has been one of the most intense and bloody engagements of the conflict in Ukraine, with both sides suffering significant casualties. Despite Western officials stating that the city holds no strategic military value, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky pledged to defend it as long as possible after proclaiming the city a fortress.