Wagner claims ‘legal’ control of Ukraine’s Bakhmut

Russia’s Wagner Group has claimed “legal” control of Ukraine’s Bakhmut, but Kyiv said its forces still held the eastern town, describing the fighting there as “particularly hot”.

“From a legal point of view, Bakhmut has been taken. The enemy is concentrated in the western parts,” Prigozhin said in an audio message posted on his press service’s Telegram account.

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•  Russia’s flag has been hoisted over Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine) city hall, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner private military company, said on Monday.

"April 2, 23:00 precisely. Behind me is the building of [Artyomovsk’s] city administration. This Russian flag is for Vladlen Tatarsky, [the Russian military reporter killed in a blast in St. Petersburg on Sunday]. ‘In grateful memory,’ is written on this flag. Technically we have captured Bakhmut," he said as quoted by the Telegram channel of his press service.

Prigozhin noted that the commanders of Russian units that captured the city hall and the entire central district "will carry and place the flags." "The adversary remains in Western blocks," he added.