Wagner chief ‘hoists’ Russian flag in Bakhmut: Has the eastern Ukranian city fallen?

In the Russia-Ukraine war, the Battle for Bakhmut rages on. The fight has been ongoing for seven months and has been the longest and the bloodiest since the 24 February invasion.

Russia has been pounding the small industrial city in eastern Ukraine with the mercenary forces from the Wagner Group leading the attack. Ukraine has been defending Bakhmut with all its might but some observers have warned that holding on to it might be too dangerous.

Now Wagner has claimed legal control of the city, saying its troops have raised a Russian flag on Bakhmut’s administrative building.

Also read: Russia-Ukraine war: What happens if Bakhmut falls

What’s the city of Bakhmut like?

Bakhmut was an important centre for salt and gypsum mining in the Donetsk region of Ukraine’s industrial heartland known as the Donbas. Before the war, it had a population of more than 70,000.

It was also known for its sparkling wine production in historic underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-Century buildings made it a popular tourist attraction, reports The Associated Press.

Weeks after the annexation of Crimea in April 2014, Russia-backed separatists took control of Bakhmut but lost it months later.

So has Russia taken control again?

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, has claimed that he raised a Russian flag at Bakhmut’s city hall on Sunday. In a video, he said that the city is now Russian “in legal sense”.

However, he admitted that Ukrainian forces were still concentrated in the western districts, according to a report by the BBC.

“From a legal point of view, Bakhmut has been taken. The enemy is concentrated in the western parts,” Prigozhin said in an audio message posted on his press service’s Telegram account.

He went on to say that the Russian flag was raised in Bakhmut in memory of Vladlen Tatarsky, a prominent Russian military blogger who died following an explosion at a cafe in St Petersburg on Sunday.

What is Ukraine saying?

Ukraine has denied Prigozhin’s claim. The country’s military leaders said after Prigozhin’s video was released that Ukrainian forces had “repelled more than 20 enemy attacks”, according to a report in Al Jazeera.

After the Wagner boss’s claims that Bakhmut had fallen, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the country’s military for defending the country, particularly Bakhmut. “I am grateful to our warriors who are fighting near Avdiivka, Maryinka, near Bakhmut … Especially Bakhmut. It’s especially hot there today,” Zelenskyy said in an address but did not elaborate on the situation in the city.

Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, urged people to “calmly respond to the fakes of those who invent a ‘victory’ that does not exist in reality”, according to a report by the BBC.

Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar dismissed the Wagner claim as “funny fake”.

Also read: What’s Ukraine hiding in the ‘underground cities’ of Bakhmut and Soledar?

What are experts saying?

According to the Institute for the Study of War, an American think thank, Ukrainian forces had control of much of Bakhmut as of Sunday but Russian troops were trying to surround it from the south and the east.

The city council building is part of the city recently claimed by Russia, as it approaches from the east, the BBC quotes the research group a quoting as saying.

There is little evidence to suggest that Bakhmut is now under Russia’s control. However, the Wagner Group fighters have been within the city limit for weeks, reports CNN.

What’s been happening in Bakmut?

Russian soldiers first attempted to capture Bakhmut last August but were pushed back.

The fighting abated in the following months as the Russian military faced Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, the Russians captured the salt-mining town of Soledar just a few kilometres north of Bakhmut and advanced to the city’s suburbs, reports AP.

Russia relentlessly bombarded Bakhmut and reduced it to rubble with only a few buildings standing. The two sides fought ferocious battles in the ruins.

Soldiers from the Wagner Group spearheaded the offensive, marching on “the corpses of their own troops” as Ukrainian officials put it. According to Western officials, at least 20,000 to 30,000 Russian troops have been killed in Bakhmut.

By the end of February, the Russians approached the only highway leading out of the city and targeted it with artillery, forcing Ukrainian defenders to rely increasingly on country roads, which are hard to use before the ground dries, the AP report says.

In March, fighting intensified in Bakhmut. On 10 March, Russian forces were moving into areas of eastern Bakhmut vacated by Ukrainian soldiers after they retreated west of the Bakhmuta River two days earlier.

There were 23 combat clashes in the city over the past day alone, Ukrainian Eastern Forces spokesman Colonel Serhiy Cherevaty said on March 11.

On 29 March, Commander of Ukrainian Land Forces, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that their main task in Bakhmut was to “deplete the enemy’s overwhelming forces and inflict heavy losses on it,” reports CNN. “Our task is to destroy as many enemies as possible and create the conditions for us to launch an offensive.”

Ukraine too has faced massive losses in the battle for the city.

Why does Bakhmut matter?

Bakhmut does not hold a lot of strategic value. But for Russia, it is an opportunity to declare a win after the military setback it suffered last year.

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu called Bakhmut the key to a further offensive in the Donbas.

According to the UK’s ministry of defence, capturing the city “would potentially allow Russia to threaten the larger urban areas of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk”.

For Ukraine, Bakhmut has become a symbol of resistance. The months-long fighting has drained Russia’s military and equipment. With Russian soldiers engaged in the city, it has prevented Moscow from launching offensive operations in other parts of Ukraine.

Michael Kofman, director of Russia studies at CAN, a Washington-based think tank, observed that the Ukrainian defenders “achieved a great deal, expending Russian manpower and ammunition,” but added that it could be wise for Ukraine to save its forces for future offensive operations.

With inputs from agencies

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