Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin claims that his group of mercenaries has taken over the entire town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.
The information is rejected by Ukraine.
– Today, May 20, around 12 o’clock, we had taken all of Bachmut, he says in a video posted on Telegram.
– We have taken the city completely, house to house.
According to the AFP news agency, the video shows a group of soldiers with the Russian flag, surrounded by ruins.
The Ukrainian army refutes the claim
The information has not been verified by independent sources, and according to Reuters, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian army says that the information is not correct.
– It’s not true. Our troops continue to fight in Bachmut, he says.
Furthermore, Reuters reports that Prigozhin says that the Wagner group will leave the city on May 25 to hand it over to the Russian army.
In recent days, both Russia and Ukraine have claimed that they have advanced somewhat in and around the city. As late as Friday, Yevgeny Prigozhin said he did not believe Bachmut would fall into Russian hands “in the next few days.”
The Russian mercenary group is leading the Russian assault on the city, which has been going on for months. The Battle of Bachmut is the bloodiest and most protracted so far in the war in Ukraine.