Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has informed that the fighting around Bakhmut is still particularly fierce, and did not indicate that the city may have fallen into the hands of the Russians, writes Reuters.
Meanwhile, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the mercenary group Wagner Group, announced that his fighters surrounded and occupied the devastated city after several months of fighting. However, the Ukrainian army has not provided information about the loss of Bakhmut, while Prigozhin has previously made a rash and premature statements.
Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Maliar stated that the situation around Bakhmut is tense.
Ukrainian forces are still holding their ground, with the Russians paying virtually no attention to their losses.
The leading officials of the Ukrainian army informed that the counter-offensive, in which the military equipment supplied by the western countries will be significant, is not far away, however, they emphasized that holding Bakhmut is of great importance. Oleh Zhdanov, a Ukrainian military expert and reserve colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that the fighting is currently taking place in the center of the city. The Ukrainians managed to repulse 25 Russian attacks, but the occupiers captured the AZOM metal factory.
Meanwhile, military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky died in Russia.
He was killed on the 2nd of April in a bomb explosion in a restaurant in St. Petersburg. Russia has started an investigation into the murder and informed that 25 more people were injured in the explosion. Prigozhin stated that he «would not blame the Kyiv regime», while a high-ranking Russian officer pointed to Ukraine.
Russia has long sought to intimidate the West by brandishing nuclear weapons. Now the aggressor state has decided to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. The Russian ambassador in Minsk, Boris Gryzlov, announced on the 2nd of April that Russia would deploy weapons near the western border of Belarus.
Another issue that increases the already serious tension between Moscow and Washington is the arrest and accusation of espionage of an American journalist.
Russia has decided to keep the journalist in custody until the end of May when the trial is scheduled.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the 2nd of April, called for the release of the journalist. Lavrov said that the fate of the American journalist would be decided by the court, and added that the American was caught at the scene of the crime.
Read also: Russia accuses US journalist; NATO is about to expand