MOSCOW, May 24. /TASS/. Russian forces’ flanks near Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine) have stabilized, and there are no grounds for any concern now, Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Acting Head Denis Pushilin reported on Wednesday.

"The peak of tensions when <…> the enemy tried to [hit] the flanks and encircle the guys right inside Artyomovsk is now over, from what I’ve learned," Pushilin told the Soloviev Live TV show. "I’ve talked with the guys over there, including Wagner (Private Military Company [PMC] - TASS) fighters, and they, too, are saying that combat-ready units have arrived there and that now they are working (to stabilize the flanks - TASS)," he added.

Days before the battle-ravaged city was liberated, Pushilin described the situation on the nearby flanks as tense given the intensive fighting underway there, with Ukraine sending in reinforcements. In early May, Wagner PMC founder Yevgeny Prigozhin reported attempts by Ukrainian troops to break through the Russian flanks toward Artyomovsk.

Earlier on Wednesday, Andrey Marochko, a retired colonel in the People’s Militia of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), said Ukrainian commanders have been amassing additional troops and equipment near Chasov Yar, 10 km west of Artyomovsk, in order to attack the Russian forces’ flanks in Artyomovsk.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on May 21 that the operation to liberate Artyomovsk had been completed as a result of an offensive carried out by assault units from the Wagner PMC, backed up by artillery units and aircraft from Battlegroup South. Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner assault teams and Russian service members on the liberation of the Donbass city. The Kremlin press service said that all those who distinguished themselves in the fight for Artyomovsk would be nominated for state decorations and awards.

Artyomovsk, located in the northern part of the DPR, had served as a key logistics hub for supplying the Ukrainian military in the Donbass and was a major Ukrainian outpost. The fight for the city, which began on August 1, 2022, has proven to be one of the biggest battles to date in the liberation of the Donbass since 2014. Before the fighting began, the city had a population of 72,000 inhabitants.