Ukraine's Rumored Gains in Bakhmut Spark Confused Russian Response

Ukraine's claim to have made some advances in Bakhmut in the Donetsk region this week has resulted in mixed responses from the Kremlin and Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner Group is involved in a bloody battle for the city.

On Friday, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar wrote on her Telegram channel that Ukraine's armed forces advanced 2 kilometers (around 1.2 miles) in the direction of Bakhmut.

Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have clashed for months in the battle for Bakhmut—a small industrial city with a pre-war population of 70,000. Russia's conventional troops have been fighting alongside fighters from Prigozhin's paramilitary outfit, the Wagner Group, although the Russian tycoon has recently made repeated threats to withdraw over a lack of ammunition from Russia's Defense Ministry.