Fighting continues in and around Bakhmut, and Ukrainians have scoffed at Russian claims that the city has been taken, pointing out that the occupiers have raised the flag over some kind of toilet, writes Reuters.
Russia, which started the war in Ukraine on the 24th of February last year, justifying it with NATO’s supposedly aggressive expansion, will experience Finland’s official admission to the alliance on Tuesday, the 4th of April. Russia shares a 1,300-kilometer-long border with Finland.
Battles are taking place around Bahmut’s cradles. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Russian mercenary group Wagner Group, reported on Sunday, the 2nd of April, that his fighters raised the Russian flag on the administrative building in the center of Bakhmut, although the Ukrainian army still holds positions in the west of the city. However, Ukraine contemptuously rejected Prigozhin’s statement and informed that active hostilities are taking place in the city center. Serhiy Cherevatyi, a representative of the eastern military group of the Ukrainian army, told Reuters: «They raised the flag over some kind of toilet.
They attached it to the side of who knows what hung their rag and said they had captured the city.
Well good, let them think they’ve taken it.»
In a statement on the 3rd of April, the leadership of the Ukrainian army informed about 45 rejected enemy attacks during the previous 24 hours, and Bakhmut, as well as Avdijivka and Mariyinka, are the epicenter of hostilities. From the night of the 3rd of April to the 4th of April, Russia carried out attacks with 17 drones manufactured in Iran, and the Ukrainians managed to intercept 14 of them.
Meanwhile, the tension between Russia and Western countries is growing more and more. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has insulted the West for trying to create a rift in Russian-Chinese relations and for efforts to disrupt the planned summit with African countries. He also pointed out that the European Union’s hostile attitude towards Moscow means that it has lost Russia. Lavrov explained to the online media Argumenty i Fakty that Russia will act harshly if necessary.
Russia has announced that it will strengthen its military presence in the western and northwestern regions
in response to Finland’s accession to NATO. It was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that made the Finns decide to join NATO – now the country will be protected by the alliance’s collective defense pact, which stipulates that an attack on one member state is an attack on the entire alliance. Finland will officially become a member of NATO on the 4th of April when its flag will be raised in a ceremony in Brussels.
Read also: News about Bakhmut remain inconsistent; diplomatic tensions rise