Kyiv: Russian private mercenary army Wagner Group has reportedly captured the AZOM industrial complex in the northern part of the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine.
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian forces have advanced into another five percent of the city of Bakhmut over the last seven days, which is located in the Donetsk Oblast region in eastern Ukraine. The Russian military currently occupies around 65 percent of the city of Bakhmut.
The ISW quoted Russian military bloggers who claimed on March 28 that fighters belonging to the Wagner Group had captured the AZOM complex in Bakhmut.
The claim by the Russian military bloggers are “relatively consistent” with geolocated footage that confirms the presence of Russian forces at the complex.
Meanwhile, the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group acknowledged on Wednesday that fighting for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut had inflicted severe damage on his own forces as well as the Ukrainian side.
Bakhmut, a small city in eastern Ukraine that has for months been the target of an offensive by Russia, has seen intense fighting and destruction in what has become the longest, bloodiest battle of the war. The Wagner Group of Russia has played a crucial role in the fighting.
“The battle for Bakhmut today has already practically destroyed the Ukrainian army, and unfortunately, it has also badly damaged the Wagner Private Military Company,” Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an audio message.
Russian officials say their forces are still capturing ground in street-by-street fighting inside Bakhmut, but have so far failed to encircle it and force the Ukrainians to withdraw, as had seemed likely weeks ago.
British military intelligence said on Wednesday the Ukrainians had successfully pushed the Russians back from one of the city’s main supply routes.
(With agency inputs)
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