Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar says Ukrainian troops are advancing with “partial success” on the southern flank of Bakhmut in the east and near Berdyansk and Melitopol in the south.
In the south, she said Ukrainian forces faced “intense enemy resistance, remote mining, deploying of reserves” and were only advancing “gradually”.
“They are persistently and unceasingly creating conditions for as fast an advance as possible,” she added.
A leading Russian television personality accused the Wagner Group boss of “going off the rails” after receiving billions in public funds, as Moscow’s narrative takes shape after the mercenary company’s brief mutiny.
Last weekend, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, led his forces in a short-lived rebellion against Russia’s top military brass.
“Prigozhin has gone off the rails because of big money,” Dmitry Kiselyov said on his weekly television show. “He thought that he can challenge the defence ministry, the state itself and the president personally.”
Kiselyov said Wagner’s operations in Syria and Africa gave Prigozhin a feeling of impunity that was later reinforced by his military force’s battlefield successes in eastern Ukraine.
Without providing any evidence, Kiselyov said Wagner had received more than $9.7bn in state funds.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has promised to intensify efforts to retake land occupied by Russia in the south of Ukraine.
On a visit to the port city of Odesa, he said in a video message: “Together we will win. The Ukrainian coasts will never tolerate these occupiers.”
He added: “The enemy will definitely not dictate conditions in the Black Sea. The occupiers will be worried about approaching our Ukrainian Crimea and our coast on the Sea of Azov.”
Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 but it is recognised internationally as Ukrainian, while cities on the Sea of Azov have been invaded by Russian troops over the course of the 16-month war.
The VyVyMangaa.Com