Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that Russian troops weren’t occupying Bakhmut even though they may have “razed it” to the ground and it is no longer in full possession of Kyiv’s forces.
That assertion made in Hiroshima, Japan, where Zelensky is meeting members of the G7 at their annual conference directly contradicts Moscow’s claims the eastern Ukrainian city has fallen.
On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated mercenaries from the Wagner organisation and regular units for the operation to “liberate” the town.
Responding to a reporter’s question about the status of the city, Zelenskyy maintained: “Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today.”
This appeared to contradict the president’s response in English to a question earlier at the summit about the status of Bakhmut which was interpreted by many as saying the city had indeed fallen to Russian forces, AP reports.
“For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing in this place,” Zelensky said in those earlier comments, adding the fight had left nothing in Bakhmut but a lot of “dead Russians.”
Zelensky’s press secretary also later walked back those comments while the spokesman for Ukraine’s Eastern Group of Forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said the Ukrainian military is managing to hold positions in the vicinity of Bakhmut.
Ukrainian soldiers ride on a BMP infantry fighting vehicle toward Bakhmut, on May 20, 2023. Ukraine said it retained some ground control in the contested eastern city which Russia’s Wagner group claimed to have captured, with fighting ongoing and the situation “critical”. (SERGEY SHESTAK/AFP via Getty)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, following the conclusion of the G7 Summit Leaders’ Meeting on May 21, 2023 in Hiroshima, Japan. (Yuichi Yamazaki – Pool/Getty Images)
“The president correctly said that the city has, in fact, been razed to the ground. The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult.
“Our military keep fortifications and several premises in the southwestern part of the city. Heavy fighting is underway,” he said.