As Russia claims to seize Bakhmut, Medvedev tells Elon Musk 'Come see for yourself'

Kremlin-backed private paramilitary group PMC “Wagner” on Sunday declared that its assault detachments have taken full control of the beleaguered eastern city of Bakhmut or Artemovsk. Wagner's chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a video address holding the Russian flag, said that the ruined salt-mining town with a pre-war population of 70,000 people, has completely fallen. Ukraine's deputy defense minister Ganna Malyar posted on Telegram that "heavy fighting in Bakhmut. The situation is critical". She added that Ukraine's troops were "holding the defense" in the city's "Airplane area".

"As of now, our defenders control certain industrial and infrastructure facilities in the area," said Malyar. 

⚡️Flags of PMC Wagner and Russia being hoisted across Bakhmut. pic.twitter.com/g5GuHOhWFy

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors)

'By the way, how’s Bakhmut?' 

As Russia declared that Bakhmut has fallen to its forces, responding to Musk's October 2022 tweet, “By the way, how’s Bakhmut?”, Russia's Deputy Chair of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that the tech entrepreneur must come to the ruined city and take stock of the situation himself.

"Elon, you asked me about Bakhmut… Come see for yourself!" Medvedev noted. In October 2022, Medvedev commented on the resignation of British Prime Minister Liz Truss. “Bye-bye Liz Truss, congratulations lettuce,” he wrote. At the time, Musk made a quip at him and asked Medvedev “How are the Russian forces in Bakhmut doing”.

The besieged city located approximately 89 kilometres north of Donetsk oblast in Ukraine witnessed the longest and bloodiest battle since WWII in Europe. For nearly 10 months, the troops on both sides had been entrenched waging deadly urban combat, causing heavy destruction to civilian infrastructure and buildings during more than a year-long Ukraine offensive. Hanna Maliar, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, said in a Telegram post that Ukrainian troops were still “holding the defense” in a district on Bakhmut’s westernmost edge.

“As a result of offensive actions of the Wagner assault units, with the support of artillery and aviation of the ‘Southern’ unit, the liberation of the city of Artemovsk was completed,” Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement, using the Soviet-era name of Bakhmut.

Wagner to hand over Bakhmut to Russian military on May 25

While the fall of Bakhmut holds strategic and symbolic value ahead of Ukraine's much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive, it came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took part in the G7 summit in Japan. The city's capture also coincides with the siege of Mariupol and the deadly battle of Azovstal that concluded on May 20, the same day a year ago when Ukraine's Azov Regiment surrendered at the sprawling Iron and Steel Works. 

"Today on May 20, around midday, Bakhmut was taken in its entirety," Prigozhin said in the video, adding that Wagner fighters will launch a search in the captured city and hand it over to official Russian army.

"By May 25 we will completely examine (Bakhmut), create the necessary lines of defense and hand it to the military," Prigozhin said. "We ourselves will go into field camps."

As Zelenskyy met with US President Joe Biden on Sunday on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) summit, he denied that Bakhmut has fallen to Russia. “I think no,” he reportedly said, adding that there is nothing left of the city. "They [Russia's forces] destroyed everything. There are no buildings. It’s a pity, it’s a tragedy, but for today Bakhmut is only in our hearts," Ukraine's President noted. The Armed Forces of Ukraine in a tweet said, “The battles for the city of Bakhmut continue”.

Russia's President  Vladimir Putin congratulated the Wagner assault detachments, as well as all units of the Russian Armed Forces, for capturing Bakhmut, the press service of Wagner Concord channel said. He also announced the awards for the fighters who successfully completed the military operation tasks.