White House: We respect Ukraine's decision to defend Bakhmut as battle for the city rages on

John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, said on Monday that Ukraine is still fighting hard for the eastern city of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast, despite Russian propagandists’ claims.

Source: Voice of America, citing Kirby during a press briefing on 3 April

Details: Kirby stressed that Ukrainian forces remain in Bakhmut, preventing Russian forces from taking the city.

Kirby stressed that the issue of Russia’s significant losses in Bakhmut has been widely discussed, as has the fact that the Wagner Group deploys recent recruits – many of them convicts – in the "meat grinder" of the battle for Bakhmut. Kirby said that this cruelty, and the sheer amount of human effort Russia has expanded in Bakhmut, are astounding.

Kirby said that Bakhmut holds a particular importance for Ukrainians and stressed that the US respects and understands this. He added that Ukrainian forces’ withdrawal from Bakhmut will not significantly alter the strategic dynamics on the ground.

However, Kirby continued, the battle for Bakhmut is still ongoing and Ukrainian forces have not been pushed out. Fighting is both fierce and close, he said.

Kirby’s remarks responded to the video released by Wagner Group owner Yevgeny Prigozhin on Sunday, 2 April. In the video, Prigozhin says that a Russian flag was raised above a key administrative building in Bakhmut, marking the city’s "official" transition under Russian control.

In response, Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesman for the Eastern Group of Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, stressed that Russia was far from capturing Bakhmut and said that fighting in the vicinity of the administrative building in question was still underway.

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