Russia claims Wagner forces took control of 3 urban quarters near Ukraine’s Bakhmut

ISTANBUL

Russia claimed on Wednesday that forces of the Wagner paramilitary group took control of three urban quarters near Ukraine’s Bakhmut.

“Russia's Airborne Troops immobilized the enemy's actions on the flanks of the (Wagner) assault detachments,” a statement by the Russian Defense Ministry claimed.

The statement further claimed that the Russian army engaged with Ukrainian forces who attempted to enter Bakhmut from the cities of Chasiv Yar and Bohdanivka.

It also claimed that Russian and Ukrainian forces also clashed close to the city of Kostiantynivka.

Earlier in the day, Serhiy Cherevaty, a Ukrainian military spokesman, claimed that Wagner forces achieved "some kind of intermediate success" in the direction of Bakhmut since the start of the war through "meat assaults."

"The fact that they achieved some kind of intermediate success in the Bakhmut direction was solely due to what Western analysts called meat assaults. That is extensive constant round-the-clock non-stop use of manpower, when one wave was destroyed, another went," Cherevaty said on the country's national telethon.

On Tuesday, the head of the Wagner paramilitary group Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that 80% of Bakhmut is under the control of the group, including "all administrative centers, plants, factories, and the city administration.”

Russian forces have been trying for months to capture Bakhmut, a transport and logistics hub in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, which is part of the largely Russian-speaking industrialized Donbas region.

Prigozhin claimed in late March that the battle for the city “almost destroyed the Ukrainian army” and “battered” his group.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s General Staff said attacks by Russian forces in the direction of Bakhmut continued with “partial success.”