(Dan Tri) – Ukraine dispatched reserve forces to the eastern city of Bakhmut after Wagner forces declared control of this front.
Ukrainian soldiers open fire in Bakhmut (Photo: Reuters).
`Bakhmut is still a city of Ukraine. Russia does not control anything yet and they are a long way from doing so,` Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesman for the eastern forces of the Ukrainian armed forces, stated today
`Battles still broke out around the city hall (Bakhmut), they did not capture anything legally,` Mr. Cherevatyi added.
Mr. Cherevatyi’s comments came after Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian private military organization Wagner, announced that the Russian flag had been placed in Bakhmut city hall and that Moscow technically controlled the city.
According to Mr. Prigozhin, commanders of Russian military units will continue to raise flags in Bakhmut.
Chief of Staff of the President of Ukraine Andrii Yermak confirmed that the video posted by Mr. Prigozhin was fake and that Bakhmut is still a city of Ukraine.
On April 2, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense also called on people to have confidence in the army’s ability to protect Bakhmut, and assured that the army was responding to the current situation.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar affirmed that the country’s army continues to protect positions in Bakhmut.
Yan Gagin, an adviser to the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said Ukraine was sending reserve forces to Bakhmut to try to launch a counteroffensive.
`The enemy is determined to fight to regain the suburbs that the Ukrainian army still controls, even though they have lost the city. They (the Ukrainian army) are moving reserves to try to regain control
According to Mr. Gagin, hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers continue to fight in Bakhmut.
Denis Pushilin, acting head of the DPR, confirmed on April 3 that Russian forces were approaching Bakhmut central railway station, while Ukrainian forces were retreating to the west of the city.
Bakhmut is a small city in Donetsk Oblast in Eastern Ukraine that the West believes has little or no strategic value.
The war in Bakhmut lasted for many months.