Russia has pushed back at suggestions of a broader Ukrainian breakthrough on the eastern front lines of the war, moving to quell growing panic about a long-awaited counteroffensive.
Kyiv’s forces appear to have driven back Moscow’s troops in some areas around Bakhmut this week, claiming its first significant gains in months. Though the advance outlined by commanders on both sides was modest, it raised new doubts about the Kremlin’s hopes of seizing a symbolic victory in the city and fueled broader fears among Russian observers about the military’s positions across the region.
Russia’s defense ministry said in a late-night comment that statements “circulated by individual Telegram channels about ‘defense breakthroughs’ that took place in various parts of the front line do not correspond to reality.”
The general situation in the area of what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine “is under control,” the ministry added.
The words of reassurance came after a number of influential Russian military bloggers and correspondents raised the alarm, suggesting that forces around Bakhmut may now be at risk of encirclement and that a larger Ukrainian counteroffensive may even have begun after months of anticipation and preparation.
Mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who first spoke furiously about Russian military units fleeing around Bakhmut earlier this week, called on Friday for defense minister Sergei Shoigu to come and assess the situation for himself.
For its part Kyiv confirmed its army’s advances on the outskirts of Bakhmut, but appeared to rebuff the idea that it had launched a major push to seize back occupied land.
It was another deflection for Russia’s beleaguered defense ministry after days of public attacks from Prigozhin highlighted growing in-fighting over the battle, which has become the focal point of the war in a brutal fight that has drained both sides.
The ministry appeared to be responding not to Ukraine but to Russian military bloggers who filled social media with alarmed messages late Thursday that talked in frenzied tones about Ukrainian advances and signs the counteroffensive may have already begun.
“The Kyiv regime began the implementation of an operation to encircle our forces in the Artyomovsk direction,” wrote Evgeny Poddubny, one of the most influential military reporters and bloggers, referring to Russia’s alternative name for Bakhmut.
Poddubny also reported that Ukrainians managed a breakthrough near Soledar, another key city in the eastern Donbas region, just northeast of Bakhmut.
“Let’s assume that the enemy counteroffensive has begun,” Poddubny added.
Another influential war reporter and blogger, Alexander Kots, even suggested that Ukrainian tanks were headed toward the Russian border around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
“That is, Kyiv, in parallel with the start of offensive operations along the flanks of Artyomovsk, decided to aggravate the situation along the northern front,” Kots wrote on Telegram. “One can only guess about the goals of the maneuver.”
NBC News has not verified the claims.
Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, said Friday that the country’s army had retaken about “2 kilometers” (1.2 miles) in the direction of Bakhmut.”
Kyiv continues to be on the defensive, but this doesn’t exclude occasional counter-attacks and active actions, she said, seemingly rejecting the idea that gains around Bakhmut were part of the anticipated counteroffensive. “Actually, this situation in the east has been going on for several months,” Maliar wrote on Telegram. “That’s it! Nothing more is happening.”
After meeting with his military commanders Friday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces “stopped the enemy” and “even pushed him back in some directions.”
Zelenskyy said in an interview released Thursday that Ukraine needed more time to launch the major counteroffensive and was still awaiting the delivery of some military aid from allies, even as Britain sent new long-range missiles that would allow Kyiv to strike deeper behind Russian lines.
But Prigozhin, whose Wagner fighters have handled the main assault on Bakhmut, said Ukraine’s counteroffensive was, in fact, in full swing.
In a statement addressed to Shoigu Friday, Prighozin wrote that Wagner still controls 95% of Bakhmut, but because of Russia’s regular army on its flanks, “the enemy undertook a number of successful counterattacks.” Earlier this week, Prighozin claimed that one of the military’s brigades abandoned its positions, giving up three square kilometers of territory where his forces lost about 500 men. “Our army is on the run,” Prighozin claimed, just as Moscow celebrated its revered Victory Day.
Prighozin’s stab at Shoigu Friday is yet another twist in his ongoing public squabble with Russia’s top military brass, after he threatened to abandon the battle for Bakmut after accusing them of not supplying his fighters with sufficient ammunition.
In a sarcasm-laden post, he called on Shoigu to use his “many years of experience in combat operations,” of which the minister doesn’t have any as he is not a career soldier, to properly assess the situation in Bakhmut.
“Prigozhin’s and the [ministry of defense]’s responses are reflective of increased panic in the Russian information space over speculations about planned Ukrainian counteroffensives and indicate increased concern among Wagner and Russian [ministry of defense] leadership as well as reflecting Kremlin guidance to avoid downplaying Ukrainian successes,” said the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, in its daily assessment Thursday.
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