Yevgeny Prigozhin the head of battle hardened Wagner, a Russia’s mercenary group claimed on Tuesday that his forces had occupied more than 80% of Bakhmut according to Kyiv Independent daily.
“Already more than 80% of the city is under the control of ‘musicians,’ including all administrative buildings and industrial facilities,” Prigozhin claimed in his Telegram post, referring to his Wagner mercenaries.
However, Ukraine’s Eastern Military Command spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyi immediately denied Prigozhin’s claim, saying that Ukraine controls more territories in Bakhmut than Wagner does.
“I can confidently state that the Ukrainian defense forces control a much larger percentage of the territory of Bakhmut,” Cherevatyi said.
Also on April 11, Prigozhin said in a video that his mercenaries had “handed over” the left and right flanks near Bakhmut to the Russian Defense Ministry, namely airborne forces.
Meanwhile, an alleged US intelligence assessment contained in a growing leak of classified documents reportedly highlight challenges faced by the Ukrainian forces in terms of equipment, training, and coordination, which could hinder their ability to effectively counter the Russian military.
The leaks highlight the need for effective strategy, coordination, and support from allies to successfully push back against the ongoing aggression.
Analysts have expressed concerns that the purported leak could undermine confidence in Ukraine’s ability to resist Russian aggression and may have diplomatic and strategic implications for the ongoing conflict.
However, Oleh Izhak, the senior analyst at the National Institute of Strategic Research in Kyiv, said that although it’s not possible to be positive, what could be a leak of secret US military briefing slides was a desire by “someone” either in Washington or Kyiv to make Russian military decision-making more difficult by “leaking” information the Kremlin is already aware of, and forcing Putin – a former secret agent with a secret agent’s paranoia about planted information – to question its validity.