Wagner probably also took over the rest of the western parts of Bahmut, estimates the US think tank. On Saturday, Wagner claimed to have taken over the entire city.
News site according to Kyiv Independent (you will go to another service) Several explosions were reported late last night in the Odessa and Zaporizhia regions.
According to the site, local media say that Russia attacked Odessa with drones, probably Iranian-made Shaheds.
Ukrainian air defenses reportedly shot down one of the Russian drones, while the others were said to have been able to continue north toward the Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
In addition, it has been reported that there were at least three Russian TU-95 bombers in the air.
Kyiv Independent (switch to another service) and Ukraine’s state news agency Ukrinform reports (you go to another service)that Russia has also bombed seven communities in the Sumy region yesterday.
Residential buildings have been damaged by mortar and artillery fire, but no personal injuries have been reported.
ISW: Ukraine quietly admitted that Bahmut fell into Wagner’s clutches
The forces of the Russian mercenary company Wagner have probably captured the last areas in the western part of the city of Bahmut, evaluated by the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) (you will go to another service).
– Today Russian troops are in Bahmut, but Bahmut is not occupied by Russia, the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi said at a news conference on Sunday.
The video, which was published on May 21 and confirmed by its location, shows Wagner’s troops raising Russian and Wagner flags on top of a residential building in the westernmost town of Bahmut.
Ukraine will focus on counterattacks on the outskirts of the city
The commander of the Ukrainian ground forces said on Sunday that Ukrainian soldiers are advancing on the outskirts of the city. ISW therefore estimates that Ukraine will focus on counterattacks on the outskirts of Bahmut.
Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Maljar has claimed on social media that Ukrainian troops have partially surrounded Bahmut, which, according to him, makes the position of the Russian troops who advanced there very difficult.
Zelenskyi compared Bahmut to Hiroshima after the atomic bomb
Wagner’s forces have been trying to take Bahmut for months, apparently suffering massive losses in the process, as have the Ukrainian forces defending the city.
At the G7 meeting in Japan on Sunday, Ukrainian President Zelenskyi compared the destruction of Bahmut to Hiroshima, the host city after the atomic bomb was dropped there in 1945.
According to him, there is nothing alive in Bahmut and all the buildings have been destroyed.