Moscow / Kiev (EFE) from other regions to prevent the Russian encirclement from closing.
“Over there, next to the five-story building from which smoke is coming out, is the headquarters of the administration, the administrative center of the city. There is a kilometer and 200 meters to there, ”said Wagner’s boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a video posted on his Telegram account.
The founder of the Russian private army Wagner recorded the video from the roof of a Bakhmut building, close to the battle line, and showed the location of the main Ukrainian fortifications that had been overcome by Russian forces so far.
Prigozhin reiterated that the Ukrainian forces will attempt a counteroffensive from the north of the city.
“For us it is important that the regular forces cover our flanks. If the flanks are covered, everything will be in order, ”he asserted.
US confirms Russian advance on Bakhmut
The US Institute for War Studies (ISW) confirmed new advances by Russian troops in the city, the scene of fierce fighting for eight months.
“Geolocated images (…) indicate that Russian forces have advanced to new positions in northwest Bakhmut 800 meters from the AZOM metal processing plant,” he said.
According to the ISW, Russian forces could attempt a frontal attack on the highly fortified plant, an assault that “will likely be very costly for the Wagner group.”
The well-known Russian military blogger Rybar reported that “the assault groups of the Wagner private Army entered the AZOM plant from the north and began to enter the territory of the industrial company,” information that has not been officially confirmed.
Rybar warned that the assault on this facility will be complicated since “it is a huge territory with a high density of facilities and a network of underground passageways tens of floors underground.”
Ukrainian reinforcements to Bakhmut
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Army is transferring part of its forces from the Zaporizhia region of Ukraine in the direction of Bakhmut, Vladimir Rogov, leader of the “Together with Russia” movement, reported today.
“The transfer of units of the Ukrainian Army from the Zaporizhia front to Artiomovsk is being observed” (Russian name for Bakhmut), the pro-Russian activist told the Russian agency TASS.
Despite this, he pointed out, “the number of troops of the Ukrainian Army on the Zaporizhia front does not decrease, we observe the transfer of mobilized units, rotating units and soldiers trained in the West”, which is around 70,000 troops.
Russia wants to take Bakhmut, where fewer than 4,000 people remain, before Ukraine launches its counter-offensive in the spring, which can start in two months if Ukraine receives more ammunition and longer-range missiles from the West in time, the adviser said. the Ukrainian Presidency, Mykhailo Podolyak, to the Italian newspaper La Stampa.
Muscovy instead of Russia
Ukraine and Russia are facing each other not only on the front lines: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has commissioned an electronic petition with more than 25,000 signatures to be studied, suggesting that the name of “Russia” be officially changed to “Muscovy” and that the terms be replaced “Russian” for “Muscovite” and “Russian Federation” for “Moscow Federation”.
The author of the petition maintains that “the historical name of Russia is Muscovy” and that “this name was used in European and some Asian languages.”
“In many historical maps from the 16th to the 19th centuries, which were made in Europe before and after the change of the name of the Moscow kingdom to the All-Russian Empire, this name also appears,” the petition states.
The author also points out that “Russia has existed for only 301 years, since October 22, 1721, when Tsar Peter I of Moscow proclaimed the Muscovite kingdom ‘Russian Empire’.”
Zelenski indicated that “the issue raised in the petition requires a thorough examination, both at the level of the historical and cultural context and taking into account the possible international legal consequences” and commissioned his Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal, to resolve this issue together with the scientific institutions.
The former Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, reacted immediately to the proposal and advised to change the name of Ukraine to “Reich of pigs” followers of the Ukrainian nationalist and Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera.
Bandera, considered by Kiev as a national hero, led a nationalist movement during World War II that was behind the murder of some 100,000 civilians of non-Ukrainian ethnicity in Volhynia and collaborated with the occupation forces of Nazi Germany, for which he is hated so much in Poland as in Russia.