War bloggers are sounding the alarm
Moscow rejects breakthrough at Bakhmut
05/12/2023, 03:11 am
Both pro-Russian military bloggers and the head of the Wagner Group report on Ukrainian successes near the embattled town of Bakhmut. The Kremlin doesn’t want to know anything about it – the account is wrong, the situation is under control.
Russia has denied reports by pro-Russian military bloggers and the head of the Wagner mercenary group about a breakthrough by the Ukrainian army in the embattled town of Bakhmut. “The individual statements on Telegram about a ‘breakthrough’ at several points on the front line do not correspond to reality,” said the Defense Ministry in Moscow.
Several pro-Russian bloggers following the situation on the ground expressed concern Thursday night about Ukrainian troop movements and positions abandoned by Russian soldiers, particularly near Bakhmut, the main scene of fighting in eastern Ukraine.
The ministry in Moscow said in its daily statement that several attacks and Ukrainian reconnaissance missions at the front had been pushed back. There were no deviations in the number compared to previous days and weeks. At the moment there was only fighting near Malynivka in the Donetsk region in the evening, with artillery and from the air, it said.
The ministry did not mention information about an alleged Russian retreat near Bakhmut. It merely stated that units would “continue to liberate the western part of the city”. “The general situation in the military special operations area is under control,” it said.
The head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been talking for three days about a withdrawal of Russian soldiers from attacks by Ukrainian troops on the flanks of the city of Bakhmut. These were confirmed by a senior official from Kyiv.