ISW: Russian troops capture Bakhmut city hall, continue offensive in city centre

PMC Wagner Group fighters made further advances in central Bakhmut and seized the Bakhmut City Administration Building, says the US Institute for the Study of War.

Russian forces made further advances on 3 April with drone footage depicting Wagner Group and Russian flags planted over the rubble of the destroyed administration building, ISW says. An image of a Wagner fighter standing in front of the Bakhmut City Administration building before its destruction also circulated on social media.

“The Wagner Group likely will continue attempts to consolidate control of central Bakhmut and attempt to push westward through dense urban areas toward Khromove,” experts believe.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of mercenary group PMC Wagner, said that a Russian flag had been hoisted over the city hall in Bakhmut, and the city had been “legally captured”, yesterday.

Ukrainian authorities denied Prigozhin’s statements. “Bakhmut is Ukrainian, and they have not captured anything and are very far from it, to put it mildly,” Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesman for the Eastern Group of Ukrainian troops, told Reuters. According to him, fighting continues around the city hall, and in the “legal sense” the Russian forces have not captured anything.

Fights for Bakhmut in the Donetsk region have been ongoing since July 2022. The US Institute for the Study of War reported last week that Russian troops had captured approximately two thirds of the city’s territory.