Wagner Group mercenaries this Saturday claimed control of the Stupki railway station, north of Bakhmut, the scene of fighting in eastern Ukraine.
“The robbery and eviction of the Stupki station in the suburb of Artyomovsk [nomenclatura russa para Bakhmut] are completed. The neighborhood is completely under the control of the Wagner fighters”says a statement by the militia of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, published on the Telegram messaging system and quoted by the Efe news agency.
The completion of the operation in Stupki, considered key to access to Bakhmut, was announced last week by Donetsk leader, pro-Russian leader Denis Pushilin.
“Now she [Wagner] liberated the Stupki district. If we take into account that every house is being fought over, this is an important success at the current stage,” Pushilin told Russian state television.
Spokesman for the Eastern Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Sergei Cherevaty said on Saturday that the situation in Bakhmut was difficult but that the region remained under control, adding that the Ukrainian armed forces would rebuild their defenses to resist Russian pressure.
The city of Bakhmut, which was called Artemivsk or Artyomovsk between 1924 and 2016, is located in eastern Ukraine on the Bakhmutka River.
It is a strategic point because it is connected by road with the two largest cities in Donetsk: Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, which are under the control of Kiev.
Source: DN
