Putin congratulated PMC “Wagner” and the Russian army on the capture of Bakhmut

Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the taking control of Bakhmut. His press service reported this on Sunday night. Putin congratulated units of PMC “Wagner” and the Russian Armed Forces and promised state awards to all those who distinguished themselves.

At the same time, in the president’s greeting, the “Wagner” assault troops are first mentioned, and only then – “servicemen of the subdivisions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, who provided them with the necessary support and cover for the flanks” (quote from TASS). Earlier, both Putin and the Ministry of Defense of Russia preferred avoid the name of private military companies fighting in Ukraine and call their mercenaries “volunteers”.

The Ministry of Defense of Russia used the same wording. “As a result of the offensive actions of the “Wagner” assault detachments with the support of artillery and aviation of the “Yuzhnoy” troop group, the liberation of the city of Artemovsk” (the former name of Bakhmut, which is used by the Russian side – RS) was completed, the ministry announced around midnight from May 20 to 21. The founder and commander of PMC “Wagner” Yevgeny Prigozhin announced the takeover of Bakhmut in parts around noon on May 20.

The Ukrainian side has not yet given official comments on the situation in Bakhmut. The last comment of the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Anna Malyar, was published in the middle of Saturday afternoon. Malyar reported on the “critical” situation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the city and that the Ukrainian military “controls certain industrial and infrastructure facilities” in it. In the summary of the General Staff of Ukraine on Sunday morning, it is mentioned that “In the direction of Bakhmut, the enemy continues to conduct offensive actions, the fighting for the city of Bakhmut does not stop.”

• Bakhmut (in Russian summaries it also appears as Artemovsk – this is the Soviet name of the city) is a district center in the Donetsk region. According to Western countries, both sides suffered heavy losses in the battles for him. The city was badly destroyed.
• At the same time, as both Ukrainian and Western analysts, and Prigozhin himself, have repeatedly noted, the capture of the city has no strategic significance – to the west of it are new defense lines of the Ukrainian army, including on the approaches to Konstantinovka, Slavyansk, and Kramatorsk.