MOSCOW, May 1. /TASS/. Ukrainian Ground Forces Commander Colonel General Alexander Syrsky acknowledged that Ukrainian troops are facing a tough situation in Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine) after he visited the battle zone in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Ukraine’s top brass reported on Monday.
"The situation [in Artyomovsk] is quite complicated," the Ukrainian Defense Ministry quoted the commander as saying on its Facebook page (Facebook is a social media owned by US corporation Meta that is outlawed as an extremist organization in Russia).
Last week, Ukrainian Special Operations Forces Commander Viktor Khorenko also described the situation in Artyomovsk as complex.
Artyomovsk, located in the Kiev-controlled part of the DPR, has been a key logistics hub for supplying the Ukrainian military. On the night of April 3, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner private military company, said that a Russian flag had been planted on the city’s town hall. Yan Gagin, advisor to Acting DPR Head Denis Pushilin, told TASS on April 18 that Russian forces had taken control of almost 90% of the city. On Sunday, Prigozhin reported that Russian forces had advanced up to 230 meters deep into Artyomovsk, so the Ukrainian armed forces now have control of the city's remaining 2.9 square kilometers.