Wagner Founder Says Bakhmut Is Captured; Ukraine Rejects Claim

 

Russia-Ukraine War

Wagner Founder Says Bakhmut Is Captured; Ukraine Rejects Claim

 

As control of the embattled city remains unclear, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine meets with world leaders at the G7 in Japan to marshal more support for his country’s fight against Russia.

 

Marc Santora and Cassandra Vinograd

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/05/20/world/russia-ukraine-news

 

Here’s the latest on the Wagner chief’s claim that his forces have taken Bakhmut.

The head of Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group said his forces had captured Bakhmut on Saturday, a claim the Ukrainian military denied even as its grip on the ruined city in eastern Ukraine has been reduced to just a few small blocks.

 

The competing claims came at a pivotal moment for President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who arrived in Japan on Saturday to press the leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations for more support as his forces prepared a counteroffensive against Russia.

 

Russia’s Defense Ministry did not immediately comment on the declaration about Bakhmut by Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the Wagner chief, whose forces have been spearheading Russia’s monthslong campaign to take the city. The battle has cost thousands of lives on both sides and reduced much of the city to rubble.

 

The Ukrainians have been pulling back, step by step, in some of the most intense urban combat in a generation even as Kyiv’s forces have pushed the Russians out of some positions to the north and south of the city in recent days.

 

Here are the latest developments:

 

Mr. Zelensky’s arrival in Japan for the Group of 7 summit came after a major shift from President Biden that opens a path for Ukraine to get the American-made F-16 fighter jets that the Ukrainian president has been pleading for. The world leaders gathered in Hiroshima will be talking over the weekend about all dimensions of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

 

The White House confirmed that President Biden and Mr. Zelensky would meet on Sunday. In addition to meeting with European leaders, Mr. Zelensky sat down on Saturday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India. It was his first meeting since Russia’s full-scale invasion with Mr. Modi, whose straddling position on the war has frustrated both Kyiv and Mr. Modi’s Western supporters.

 

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a sharp denunciation of the G7 summit, warning leaders of the democratic powers gathered in Japan against putting pressure on Beijing. It did not comment directly on the G7 leaders’ call for Beijing to press Russia to abandon its invasion of Ukraine.