Confusion over the status of Bakhmut intensified Monday when the leader of Russia’s Wagner Group said his mercenary forces will leave the battered eastern Ukrainian city by month’s end and suggested the Russian Defense Ministry send its generals to hold the city.
Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin has repeatedly criticized the defense ministry as inept and accused its leaders of failing to control territory previously seized by Wagner troops. His announcement comes after he and the defense ministry claimed Saturday that Bakhmut “was completely taken” after several months of intense fighting.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to confirm the claim Sunday, but later his office said its military continues to control a small part of the city. On Monday, Deputy Ukrainian Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Ukraine troops occupy the hills to the north and south and are beginning to encircle Bakhmut.
“They pretend with the help of propaganda that they have taken the entire city under their control, but this is not the case,” she said.
Bakhmut was a city of 70,000 before becoming a crucial focus of the war that has left it battered and virtually abandoned.
“You have to understand, there is nothing” left, Zelesnkyy said Sunday.
Developments:
∙ Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged the U.N. to conduct a summit on the war as soon as next month rather than waiting until a scheduled, high-level meeting in September.
∙ Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner Group fighters and Russian troops for their efforts in Bakhmut, which Russia calls Artyomovsk, and promised that “everyone who distinguished himself in the battle will be recommended for the state decorations.”
∙ Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant spent hours operating on emergency diesel generators Monday after losing its external power supply for the seventh time since the war began. “The nuclear safety situation at the plant (is) extremely vulnerable,” tweeted Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
∙ Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day killed three people and injured 14, according to Ukrainian officials. Ukraine’s Air Force said it shot down 20 Russian drones and four cruise missiles.
Oligarchs evade sanctions, continue flying private jets
An analysis of sanctions that allowed seizure of planes belonging to wealthy Russian oligarchs indicates that many continue to fly freely around the world. The analysis by The Telegraph in Britain indicates that many planes were moved to more friendly confines before seizures could take place. Others were slipped off the grid and registered under different tail numbers. Data from Russia’s Federal Agency for Air Transport shows a jump in private jet registrations last year. The opportunity to stop the war through sanctioning oligarchs so they would turn on Putin has passed, said Sandeep Baliga, an economics professor at Northwestern University.
“What could have happened at the start of the war didn’t,” Baliga told the Telegraph. “Now the war has gone on and the elite that do have power fear for their lives if they should capitulate to the West.”
Russia issues warrant for actor who supports Ukraine
Russia’s Interior Ministry has issued a felony arrest warrant against Moscow-native film star Alexey Panin. Earlier this month TASS reported that authorities were investigating Panin for statements in which he “justified the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge.” After the October blast that severely damaged the Russian-built bridge, Panin wrote on Telegram that he “cannot hide his joy.” Panin maintains a residence in Moscow but reportedly has lived in Spain since 2020.
Ukraine pursued Panin in 2015 for “violating the country’s territorial integrity” after he spoke out in support of the Russian authorities’ actions following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Panin later publicly apologized to Ukrainians and said that Russia had initiated a “war that nobody needed.”
Contributing: Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
