At 12:00 EEST, the Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin announced with Wagner forces completely control the city of Bakhmut, claiming that Ukrainian soldiers escaped through holes in the Russian line created from the retreat of the 72nd and 4th Russian brigades.
Ukraine is holding steady on the flanks of Bakhmut even gaining ground in some places, but losing the city itself is a heavy blow to their morale. Ukraine has invested many lives and equipment to the defense of the city and they dealt heavy damage to the Russian attackers, but it was not enough to prevent them from being overrun.
Wagner has said that they will be leaving Bakhmut on May 25 to hand over the city to Russian troops to hold it. Additionally, Wagner’s top soldiers are leaving to go fight in Sudan after they hand over the city to the Russian forces.
Ukraine’s deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar came out with a statement only a few hours after Prigozhins announcement saying “Heavy fighting in Bakhmut. The situation is critical. At the same time, our troops maintain defense in the “Litak” area. As of now, our defenders control certain industrial and infrastructure facilities of this area and the private sector.”
The fall of Bakhmut holds a complicated future for Ukraine. Much like America’s Bunker Hill or Russia’s Borodino, this battle left the Russian army with many dead men but did little to end the war.
Ukrainian troops will likely fall back to defensible positions across the river in the town of Chasiv Yar which has already received shelling as it is the anticipated spot for soldiers to regroup and prepare to defend again.
The fighting in the region is far from over as the villages around Bakhmut prepare for evacuation of remaining civilians or defense.
