The day after the end of the armed insurgency by Yevgeny Prigozhin and some of his mercenaries in Russia, members of the Kiev army stressed yesterday Sunday that they did not actually detect any major changes on the fronts around Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine.

“Most soldiers understand that this is a circus, that the Russians did not leave. They always stay at their posts,” said Nazar, a 26-year-old bearded soldier whose post is at a roadside gas station in the wider Bahmut district.

This Donbas city has for months been the scene of fierce fighting between Ukrainian units and mercenaries of Wagner, the private military company founded by stormy businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Although its fighters captured it in May and later handed it over to the Russian regular army, hostilities in the area did not stop.

The Ukrainian military says it has been waging a counteroffensive for weeks, flanking Bakhmut and gradually advancing, while also trying to break through Russian defense lines on the southern front, hundreds of kilometers away.

Mr Prigozhin launched an armed rebellion on Friday, crossing into Russian territory. He announced that he and his men had “taken control” of the command center in Rostov (southwest Russia) and that Wagner’s units were heading for Moscow, that they had arrived within a few hundred kilometers of the Russian capital.

With the mediation of the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, however, the Kremlin and Mr. Prigozhin made an agreement and the spectacular mutiny came to an end.

“fake news”

In the Bakhmut zone, “we can say that there is fighting going on,” countered Nazar, who did not believe Mr. Prigozhin was actually mutinous. According to him, this whole story was aimed at deceiving Ukraine.

“Russia is trying to make us lose control by any means,” and that includes “fake news,” he wants to believe. Russian forces “continued to attack both yesterday and today.”

According to another soldier, who did not want to give his name but said he has been fighting in the area for six months, Wagner’s mercenaries are still fighting and Russia is sending criminals recruited by Yevgeny Prigozhin to carry out raids.

Information that is impossible to independently verify.

“Storm Z is always here,” said this soldier, referring to a mercenary assault unit.

“Small groups (of Russians) left their positions,” Oleksandr, another Ukrainian military official, said without elaborating.

This shows, he added, that the situation on the ground is “evolving positively”, although the Ukrainians have only recaptured a few villages in their almost month-long counter-offensive, which, according to Kiev at least, has been aimed at liberating “all » the territories occupied by the forces of Moscow.

“More injured”

In a field hospital on the eastern front, a doctor said yesterday that he had noticed an “increase” in the number of wounded “in the last two or three days”.

One thing leads to another: “when there is an attack, we have more wounded,” explained Dmytro, a surgeon of the 5th brigade, schematically.

“On average we currently have 60 to 80 (injured people in need of care) every day,” he calculated and clarified that most of them have suffered a concussion.

In an hour and a half, AFP journalists saw four wounded people being transported to the center. One, heavy, with his face covered in dirt, was in danger of having both his legs amputated, according to a paramedic, who said his name was also Nazar. The quick removal of the wounded man from the battlefield allowed his life to be saved, he added.

Another wounded person was hit by shrapnel in the leg.

Not all wounded make it out alive.

Paramedic Nazar explained that he saw two men die in the morning, including a father of two. They succumbed before being transported to a hospital. Another five were harvested last week by Russian forces. According to him, Russian forces seem to have changed tactics: “Before, if they could take prisoners (Ukrainian soldiers) alive, they did it. Now, they shoot to kill.”

Five dead in Kyiv

In the Ukrainian capital, far from the frontlines, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the toll from the Russian airstrike overnight Friday to Saturday had reached five dead, as two bodies were recovered from a massively damaged apartment building.

Eleven other occupants of the building were injured when, according to Ukrainian authorities, debris from a downed Russian missile fell into it.

According to Kiev, Russian forces fired more than 50 cruise missiles and three kamikaze UAVs. 41 missiles and three unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed, authorities said.