Russians far from besieging Bakhmut – Armed Forces spokesperson

The Russians are a long way from capturing the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast. There is active fighting going on near Bakhmut city hall.

Source: Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the East Grouping of Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in a commentary to Reuters; Andrii Yermak, head of the President's Office of Ukraine, on Telegram

Quote: "Bakhmut is a Ukrainian city, and they [the Russians] have not seized anything and are very far from doing so, to put it mildly."

Details: Earlier, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch and founder of the Wagner Group, posted a video in which he claims that the Russian flag had been raised above the city hall building in memory of Vladlen Tatarsky, the pro-Russian "military leader". Prigozhin believes that the city has been de jure seized by the Russians.

Andrii Yermak has stated that the video posted by Prigozhin is fake and Bakhmut is a Ukrainian city. He advised Ukrainians to react calmly to fake news about a Russian "victory" which has not actually happened.

"They raised their flag over some public toilet. They attached their rag to the side of God knows what and said they'd captured the city. Whatever, let them think they did it," Cherevatyi remarked.

"Fighting is ongoing around the [Bakhmut] city hall building; the Russians have not seized anything in the legal sense," he specified.

Background: On 2 April, the Ministry of Defence called on Ukrainians to trust the military defending Bakhmut and assured them that the troops are responding to the current situation according to the principle of military expediency.

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