Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has reaffirmed the unity of the military leadership in Kiev in the battle for the city of Bakhmut in the east of the country. It had been made the unanimous decision not to give way, but to reinforce the troops, said Zelenskyj in his video message distributed on Monday evening. In it, he informed about a meeting with generals on the situation around the symbolic city of the Ukrainian resistance, which is located in the Donetsk region and is already largely destroyed.
"The Ukrainian armed forces defend every part of Ukraine and will continue to do so," Zelensky said. The time will come when every city, every village of the Ukrainian state will be liberated.
With the message, Zelenskyj tried to counteract the impression that there were different opinions in the country's leadership on how to deal with the situation in Bakhmut. There is a lot of disinformation, said the head of state. Western experts had also stated that it might be better to abandon the city to use the resources elsewhere.
The head of the Russian private army Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that the Ukrainian armed forces had reinforced four positions in front of Bakhmut. According to Prigozhin, the Wagner fighters blocked Bakhmut, now the Ukrainian soldiers tried again to surround the Russian units and dissolve the blockade. "The Ukrainian armed forces will fight for Artyomovsk (Russian term for Bakhmut) to the end, this is obvious. We should also do our work to the end," Prigozhin said. He again demanded more ammunition from the Russian military leadership.
After the meeting with Zelenskyj, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ukrainian land forces, who was in Bakhmut for the third time within a few days, also spoke in Kiev. "The enemy has thrown additional Wagner forces into battle. Our fighters bravely defend the positions in the north of Bakhmut and try to prevent the encirclement of the city."
Bakhmut, where according to Ukrainian data only a few thousand of the original 70,000 inhabitants live, has been contested since late summer. The city is the main part of the defensive line established between Siversk and Bakhmut in the Donetsk region after the Russian conquest of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. When the city falls, the way opens for the Russian troops to the cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk. This would make a complete conquest of the Donetsk region more likely.
Zelenskyj condemns video with shooting of a soldier
In his speech, Zelensky also condemned the killing of a Ukrainian prisoner of war who was allegedly killed by Russian soldiers with numerous shots after saying the words "glory to Ukraine." The scene shown on video caused horror in Ukraine. "Today a video surfaced of how the occupiers brutally killed a fighter who courageously said the words 'glory to Ukraine,'" Zelensky said. The authenticity of the video was initially not independently verifiable.