On Saturday, Russian mercenary head Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that his Wagner troops had successfully captured Bakhmut. However, the Ukrainian government denied this report and insisted that the battle was still ongoing.

Prigozhin made the statement in a video where he wore battle fatigues and stood before a row of soldiers carrying Russian flags and Wagner banners.

Prigozhin declared that “Bakhmut was completely taken” around midday today. As one man said, “We completely took the whole city, from house to house.”

Ukrainian military spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyi told Reuters, “That is not true. Our troops are engaged in combat in Bakhmut.

The battle for Bakhmut has been the longest and bloodiest in Russia’s roughly 15-month-long campaign in Ukraine.

On camera, Prigozhin announced that beginning May 25, for rest and retraining, his soldiers will evacuate from Bakhmut and surrender authority to the regular Russian army. In the background, distant explosions could be heard.
At a Group of Seven conference in Japan on Saturday, where the conflict in Ukraine was a top priority, Prigozhin mocked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. President Joe Biden.

Zelenskiy received Prigozhin’s advice: “Today when you see Biden, kiss him on the top of his head, say hi to him from me.”

Prigozhin reiterated his previous concerns that his forces had lost many more men than they should have due to a lack of army backup and ammunition. Earlier this month, when standing in a field of gory bodies, he published an angry tirade against Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and threatened to withdraw his forces.

In the video posted on Saturday, he claimed that “five times more guys died than they should have” due to Russian bureaucracy and the “whims” of Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov.
His declaration of victory came after a week of intense warfare surrounding the city, during which the Ukrainian military claimed to have forced back some Russian forces.

After Ukrainian tactical successes on the outskirts of town, British defense intelligence reported on Saturday that it was “highly likely” that Russia had deployed several battalions to strengthen the Bakhmut sector. There was talk of a “notable commitment by the Russian command” because of this.

The Russian leadership “likely continues to see capturing Bakhmut as the key immediate war aim” that would allow them to “claim some degree of success in the conflict,” the account tweeted.

Bakhmut, a city of 70,000 people before the war, had no strategic value, as Prigozhin has admitted. However, the city took on enormous symbolic importance for both sides due to the sheer ferocity of the battle and the number of deaths.