Confusion over the status of Bakhmut intensified Monday when the leader of Russia’s Wagner Group said his mercenary forces will leave the battered eastern Ukrainian city by month’s end and suggested the Russian Defense Ministry send its generals to hold the city.
Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin has until now repeatedly criticized the Defense Ministry as inept and accused its leaders of failing to control territory seized by Wagner troops. His announcement comes after he and the ministry claimed Saturday that Bakhmut “was completely taken” after several months of intense fighting.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to confirm the claim Sunday, but later his office said its military continues to control a small part of the city. On Monday, Deputy Ukrainian Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Ukraine troops occupy the hills to the north and south and are beginning to encircle Bakhmut.
“They pretend with the help of propaganda that they have taken the entire city under their control, but this is not the case,” she said.
Bakhmut had a population of 70,000 before becoming a crucial focus of the war that has left it virtually abandoned.
“You have to understand, there is nothing” left, Zelesnkyy said Sunday.
Ukrainian military leaders say their resistance has helped limit Russia’s capabilities elsewhere and enabled Ukrainian advances.
“The main idea is to exhaust them, then to attack,” Ukrainian Col. Yevhen Mezhevikin, commander of a specialized group fighting in Bakhmut, said Thursday.
Developments:
∙ Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged the U.N. to conduct a summit on the war as soon as next month rather than waiting until a scheduled high-level meeting in September.
∙ Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner Group fighters and Russian troops for their efforts in Bakhmut, which Russia calls Artyomovsk, and promised that “everyone who distinguished himself in the battle will be recommended for the state decorations.”
∙ Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant spent hours operating on emergency diesel generators Monday after losing its external power supply for the seventh time since the war began. “The nuclear safety situation at the plant (is) extremely vulnerable,” tweeted Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. “We must agree to protect (the) plant now.”
∙ Portugal is willing to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets, but sending the warplanes “is not on the table,” Foreign Minister João Gomes Cravinho told the Diário de Notícias newspaper.
∙ Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day killed three people and injured 14, according to Ukrainian officials. Ukraine’s Air Force said it shot down 20 Russian drones and four cruise missiles.
British: Russian military unhappy with air force performance
Russia is apparently creating a new, elite attack aviation group code-named “Shtorm” to operate over Ukraine. The unit is expected to consist of at least one squadron of fighter-bombers and a squadron of attack helicopters, the British Defense Ministry says. The mix of aircraft types suggests the group will have a primary role of ground attack missions, according to the ministry’s latest assessment of the war. It says “credible” Russian media reports suggest the Defense Ministry hopes to attract highly skilled and motivated pilots by offering large pay incentives and opening recruitment to retired aviators.
“The creation of the group highlights how Russia assesses its regular air force squadrons have severely underperformed in their core function of conducting airstrikes on Ukrainian lines,” the update says.
Russian against Russian in Belgorod border battles
Ukraine’s Intelligence Directorate confirmed that the pro-Ukrainian Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps are operating in the Belgorod region of Russia that borders Ukraine. The fighters, Russian military defectors and other Russian volunteers in the Ukraine military, are occupying Russian villages to create a “safety zone” to protect Ukrainian citizens, directorate spokesperson Andriy Yusov said.
“The legion and the (volunteer corps) are creating a demilitarized zone on the border with the Russian Federation, from where they will not be able to shell Ukraine,” the legion said in a statement. “In the future, we are moving towards the liberation of all of Russia from Putin’s dictatorship and an end to the criminal war.”
Russia’s regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov described the efforts as terrorism and introduced restrictions aimed at tightening security. He said Russian security forces are taking “necessary measures to eliminate the enemy,” the state-owned Tass news agency reported. He also said most residents of the border villages have left the area.
Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said the attacks were Kyiv’s attempt to minimize the political impact of what Russia claims was the fall of Bakhmut over the weekend.
Israel-like security model considered for Ukraine, report says
Before Ukraine gains membership into NATO, a process that figures to take years if it ever happens, it could protect its sovereignty through a security model similar to Israel’s that’s under consideration by leaders of the military alliance and the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
If implemented, the plan would boost Ukraine’s defenses through continued supplies of Western weapons and advanced technology but stop short of calling for NATO intervention in case of a conflict with Russia, the newspaper said.
The security agreement has been broached by President Joe Biden and is gaining favor as an agenda item for the NATO summit in July, according to the Journal, which quoted Polish President Andrzej Duda as saying, “The discussions on this one are going on right now.”
Oligarchs evade sanctions, continue flying private jets
An analysis of sanctions that allowed seizure of planes belonging to wealthy Russian oligarchs indicates that many continue to fly freely around the world. The analysis by The Telegraph in Britain indicates that many planes were moved to more friendly confines before seizures could take place. Others were slipped off the grid and registered under different tail numbers. Data from Russia’s Federal Agency for Air Transport shows a jump in private jet registrations last year. The opportunity to stop the war through sanctioning oligarchs so they would turn on Putin has passed, said Sandeep Baliga, an economics professor at Northwestern University.
“What could have happened at the start of the war didn’t,” Baliga told The Telegraph. “Now the war has gone on and the elite that do have power fear for their lives if they should capitulate to the West.”
Russia issues warrant for actor who supports Ukraine
Russia’s Interior Ministry has issued a felony arrest warrant against film star Alexey Panin, a Moscow native. Earlier this month, TASS reported that authorities were investigating Panin for statements in which he “justified the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge.” After the October blast that severely damaged the Russian-built bridge, Panin wrote on Telegram that he “cannot hide” his joy. Panin maintains a residence in Moscow but reportedly has lived in Spain since 2020.
Ukraine pursued Panin in 2015 for “violating the country’s territorial integrity” after he spoke out in support of Russian authorities’ actions following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Panin later publicly apologized to Ukrainians and said Russia had initiated a “war that nobody needed.”
Contributing: Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
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