He refutes the claims of Yevgeny Prigozhin, but also of Vladimir Putin, about the occupation of Bakhmut by Wagner in Kiev, even speaking of a regular encirclement of the city.

The defense of the part of Bakhmut controlled by the Ukrainian army does not lose its importance, noted the commander of the ground forces of the Ukrainian army “architect of the Ukrainian counter-offensive”, general Alexander Shirsky.

“Despite the fact that right now we control a small part of Bahamut, the importance of his defense remains. This gives us the opportunity to enter the city should the situation change. And that will definitely happen,” says Sirksi on Telegram.

“We continue to advance on the flanks on the outskirts of Bahamut and we are approaching the regular encirclement of the city. Thanks to it, we will be able to take control of all the high-rise buildings occupied by the enemy and gradually destroy them. This deprives the enemy of control of the approaches to the city and gives us some tactical advantages. During the work with the commanders, we analyzed in detail our actions and the process of destroying the enemy. Therefore, we continue the defense. difficult, but under control,” added the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces.

Ukrainian forces have partially surrounded the besieged city of Bakhmut and still control part of it, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister said earlier on the same wavelength. Hannah Maliar.

Russian President Vladimir Putin today congratulated the Wagner mercenary group and the Russian military a day after Prime Minister Prigozhin said his forces had captured the city.

But Maliar said Ukrainian forces were still advancing along the outskirts of Bakhmut and claiming part of the heights overlooking the city.

“Our forces have captured the city, they have surrounded half of it and this gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy. Therefore the enemy must defend himself in the part of the city he controls,” he wrote on Telegram.

Maliar added that Ukrainian forces are still defending industrial areas and infrastructure in Bakhmut as well as a private sector of the city, and then quoted Sirsky’s remarks on her Telegram channel.

Zelensky played down that he did not meet with Lula

Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky played down the fact that he did not meet with the Brazilian president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Japan today and said this was likely due to planning.

Asked if he was disappointed that the meeting did not take place, Zelenskiy said during a press conference that he believed the Brazilian leader was most disappointed.

“I think it let him down,” she said, smiling to laughter from reporters.

Zelensky met a number of world leaders on the sidelines of the summit in the city of Hiroshima at the weekend in a trip seen as part of his efforts to woo the Global South as Kiev defends itself against Russia’s full-scale invasion.