KYIV: The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group said on Wednesday his forces had taken full control of the eastern part of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, scene of one of the bloodiest battles of the year-long war.

If the claim is true, it would mean Russian forces control nearly half the city in their push to secure their first big victory in several months.

Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said his fighters, who have been spearheading the Russian campaign to seize Bakhmut, had now captured the city’s east.

“Everything east of the Bakhmutka River is completely under the control of Wagner,” Prigozhin said on Telegram.

UN chief wants extension of deal which has allowed resumption of grain exports from Ukraine

The river bisects Bakhmut city, which sits on the edge of a swathe of Donetsk region that is already largely under Russian control.

Ukrainian military statements said earlier there may be “conditions” in Bakhmut for a Ukrainian offensive.

“The main task of our troops in Bakhmut is to grind the enemy’s fighting capability, to bleed their combat potential,” Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern military command, told public television on Tuesday.

The General Staff of the Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in its Wednesday morning report: “The enemy, despite significant losses, ... continues to storm the town of Bakhmut.”

Russia has made progress in recent weeks around Bakhmut, but its winter offensive has yielded no significant gains in assaults further north and south. It says that taking Bakhmut would be a step towards seizing the industrial Donbas region.

A Ukrainian military drone showed the scale of destruction in Bakhmut, filming apartment blocks on fire and smoke billowing from residential areas.

Nato sees Bakhmut’s fall

In a related development, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned on Wednesday Bakhmut may fall into Russian hands in the coming days following months of intense fighting.

In Stockholm, EU ministers were discussing plans to ramp up defence production and rush ammunition to Ukraine as it burns through thousands of howitzer shells each day.

“What we see is that Russia is throwing more troops, more forces and what Russia lacks in quality they try to make up in quantity,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Stockholm on the sidelines of an EU defence ministers meeting.

“We cannot rule out that Bakhmut may eventually fall in the coming days,” the head of the US-led military alliance said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in an interview with CNN what could happen if Bakhmut falls to Russian forces.

“They (Russian forces) could go to Kramatorsk, they could go to Sloviansk, it would be an open road for the Russians after Bakhmut to other towns in Ukraine, in the Donetsk direction,” Zelensky said in an interview set to air Wednesday.

UN wants grain deal extended

Meanwhile, UN chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday underscored during a visit to Kyiv the need to extend the deal which has allowed the resumption of grain exports from war-torn Ukraine.

“I want to underscore the critical importance of the rollover of the Black Sea Grain Initiative on 18 March and of working to create the conditions to enable the greatest possible use of export infrastructures through the Black Sea,” Guterres said during a visit to Kyiv.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2023