Russia, Ukraine trade barbs over occupation of Bakhmut

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged barbs over which country's forces have seized control of the east Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

For months the front line city which is situated in the Donetsk region of Donbas has been a focal point of Moscow's advances through eastern Ukraine.

On Thursday, Russia claimed it had surrounded Bakhmut while Kiev said its forces were still holding on to the city.

Russia said its forces had cut off Ukrainian forces inside Bakhmut. The Russian army said its airborne troops were "blocking the transfer of Ukrainian army reserves to the city and the possibility of retreat for enemy units."

It added that the Russian Wagner units were advancing in Bakhmut.

Commander of the paramilitary units, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said it was still "too early" to announce Russia's victory in Bakhmut.

Russian official says forces have seized 75% of Bakhmut

A Russian official has claimed that 75 percent of the frontline town of Bakhmut has been seized by Russian forces.

"The Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to deploy reserves and transfer them," Prigozhin's press office said on social media.

Kiev, however, said its forces supply lines were still open into the city and it was able to send them munitions.

"We are able to... deliver food products, ammunition, medicines, all that is necessary, and also to recover our wounded," said Sergiy Cherevaty, spokesman for Kiev's eastern forces.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian general staff acknowledged that the situation in Bakhmut was "difficult".

"Every day in Bakhmut area, the enemy makes 40 to 50 offensive and assault attempts, launches more than 500 strikes using the entire range of available weapons. At the same time, the military-political leadership of the Russian Federation does not pay attention to significant personnel losses. Thus, only over the past two weeks in Bakhmut area, the enemy lost almost 4,500 Wagner fighters and service members of the regular armed forces of the Russian Federation killed and wounded," said Brigadier General Oleksiy Hromov, Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, at a news briefing.

In the meantime, while both sides have conceded huge casualties in Bakhmut, neither is giving numbers about their own casualties.

According to him, Bakhmut remains the most difficult area on the front, where the Russian forces continuously stage attacks, as well as towards Bohdanivka and Ivanivske settlements in order to surround the city from the north and south.

The Brigadier General said Russian forces were also shelling Ukrainian troops in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

Kiev has said that holding on to Bakhmut is essential in blocking Russian forces advancements along the entire eastern front.

Bakhmut has been the scene of the most brutal battle of the war in Ukraine which started in February 2022 after Russia launched its special military operation in the former Soviet republic.

Despite the continuous fighting, some residents of nearby areas have decided to stay. "I've got nowhere to go. I can't afford to leave," 71-year-old Vira Petrova told AFP in the village of Kalynivka, several kilometers west of Bakhmut.

"If my home is destroyed, I'll live in my basement," she said, not flinching to the sound of the artillery shots fired in the distance. "We've already been shelled. Half the kitchen roof was destroyed. Our neighbor’s roof was destroyed. We're used to it."

Only a fraction of the people who lived on the street still remains in their homes.

In related news, Russia said on Thursday it was opening a preliminary probe into disturbing footage purportedly showing the beheading of a Ukrainian man in uniform by a Russian-speaking masked man in camouflage attire.

The Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that, "the authenticity of this horrible footage needs to be verified."

Prigozhin denied accusations that members of his fighting force were responsible for the footage. "This is complete nonsense. It does not correspond to reality."

"In order to assess the reliability of these materials and make an appropriate decision, they were sent to the investigating authorities to organize a probe," Russian Prosecutor-General's Office said in a statement.

Moscow has dismissed war crime allegations lodged against the Russian forces by Kiev and its Western allies as being baseless fabrications.

According to purported US intelligence documents posted online, so far as many as 354,000 Ukrainian and Russian troops, about half from either side, have been killed or injured as a result of the war.

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