Fighters of the Wagner PMC are fighting for the main railway junction in the western part of Artemovsk (Ukrainian name Bakhmut), one of the participants in the military company involved in the liberation of the city told RIA Novosti.
“Them [украинские военные. — примеч. «Газета.Ru»] proceeded to the railroad. Pull back. They run, we chase. The city is almost under our control,” he said.
According to the military, Russian forces have taken control of the center of Artemovsk and are advancing in other directions, pushing the Ukrainian army west of the city.
The Defense Ministry report of April 16 states that the Wagnerists occupied two neighborhoods in the northwest and southeast of Bakhmut: “In the direction of Donetsk, Wagner assault detachments liberated two neighborhoods in the northwest and southeast parts”. In this, they were helped by units of the Air Force, which blocked the actions of the enemy on the flanks of the assault detachments.
The day before, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that the Wagner assault detachments captured two blocks on the northern and southern outskirts of Artemovsk. “The units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine remaining in Artemivsk are deliberately destroying urban infrastructure and residential buildings in order to slow down the advance of our troops,” the ministry said in a statement.
During the day from Friday to Saturday, the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost about 445 people, most of them – 315 soldiers and mercenaries in the direction of Donetsk in the Bakhmut region.
According to the adviser to the acting head of the DPR, Jan Gagin, the Armed Forces of Ukraine does not receive its dead soldiers “for a long time”, but in “terrible numbers”. “And this figure itself cannot be true, because most of the Ukrainian soldiers are on the ground and no one is lifting the dead. “Many of them are considered missing,” he said.
On Friday, April 14, the Military Chronicle Telegram channel reported that fierce fighting was raging on the western outskirts of Artemovsk.
“According to preliminary data, st. Liberators of the Donbass, where the fortified zone of the 127th and 241st territorial defense brigades was located. “Yesterday, not far from this place, the warriors of Wagner PMC made good progress.”
It was also reported in the Russian defense ministry that the battles for Artemovsk continue. It was noted that “Wagner assault detachments conducted high-intensity combat operations to seize neighborhoods in the western districts of the city of Artemovsk.” Paratroopers, aviation and artillery support them.
It is too early to talk about the complete encirclement of Artemovsk, says Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Wagner PMC. “Heavy bloody wars are going on, so it’s too early to talk about the complete encirclement of Bakhmut,” said Prigozhin’s press service.
He noted that more than 80% of the territory of Artemovsk, including administrative centers, factories and factories, is under the control of the Russian army. But the Armed Forces of Ukraine continues to collect reserves and transfer them to the city.
According to the interim head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, the Ukrainian Armed Forces still remain in the western parts of the city, as there are areas where they can be “held for a while”.
Pushilin also noted that the soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were ordered not to withdraw, and that the soldiers who nevertheless decided to surrender “understood that this was their only chance for survival.”
“The situation is this: These units have no choice. <…> There is no turning back, because the detachments work there, <…> conditionally, they will be destroyed on their own, ”he said.
Active fighting continues along the Donetsk direction.
On April 16, head of the press center of the Yug group, Ivan Bigma, said that the Russian Armed Forces destroyed the temporary deployment point of the Foreign Legion, as well as hit a warehouse and two strong points with Armed Forces personnel. Ukraine
“In the direction of Donetsk, the artillery unit of the Southern Group of Forces conducted a series of fire raids, as a result of which the temporary deployment points of the “Foreign Legion” were hit in the area. Arkhangelskoye settlement, 129th brigade of the territorial defense of Ukraine, Keramik settlement, 12th battalion of the 110th mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ocheredino settlement, ”said.
“In the Pobeda residential area, the Solntsepek heavy flamethrower system crews of the RKhBZ units of the Southern Forces Group, together with the personnel, destroyed the enemy’s stronghold.”