Kyiv says situation 'critical' in Bakhmut as Russia claims capture
Bakhmut is by now the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle in Moscow's offensive
Ukraine on Saturday said it retained some ground control in the eastern city of Bakhmut, which Russia's Wagner group claimed to have captured, with fighting ongoing and the situation "critical."
"Heavy fighting in Bakhmut. The situation is critical," deputy defense minister Ganna Malyar posted on Telegram. She said Ukrainian troops were "holding the defense" in the city's "Airplane area. As of now, our defenders control certain industrial and infrastructure facilities in the area."
Earlier on Saturday the head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group claimed the complete capture of Bakhmut, scene of the longest and bloodiest battle in Moscow's offensive.
"Today on May 20, around mid-day, Bakhmut was taken in its entirety," Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video posted on Telegram, with fighters behind him holding the Russian flag surrounded by ruins.
Russian President Vladimir Putin late Saturday congratulated the Wagner group and the regular army on their capture of Bakhmut, according to a Kremlin statement.
"Vladimir Putin congratulated the assault units of Wagner as well as all servicemen of units of the Russian armed forces who provided them with the necessary support and flank cover, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artemovsk (the Soviet-era name for Bakhmut)," the TASS news agency quoted the Kremlin statement as saying.
Prigozhin, Russia's mercenary-in-chief, has been an associate of Putin's for many years and has previously been nicknamed "Putin's Chef" by Western media because he once ran a floating restaurant in St Petersburg where Putin occasionally dined. In recent weeks he criticized some aspects of Moscow's handling of the invasion.