Video Shows Russian Machine Gun Position Decimated in Bakhmut: Ukraine
A Russian machine gun set up in a Bakhmut high-rise was taken out by Ukrainian forces on Monday, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The eastern city of Bakhmut in Ukraine's Donetsk region has continued to be an epicenter of violence, as Ukrainian troops have routinely squared off against Wagner Group mercenaries that are headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Prigozhin has repeatedly criticized the Russian Defense Ministry (MOD) for a lack of ammunition and supplies, in addition to accusations of "high treason." This past weekend, he again threatened to withdraw all of his fighters from Bakhmut if their requests were not granted, with Prigozhin later issuing a statement on Telegram that said his soldiers would receive "as much ammunition and weapons as we need to continue hostilities."
"The enemy's machine gun emplacement, which was firing from a high-rise building in Bakhmut, was destroyed," the Armed Forces of Ukraine wrote on Telegram on Monday.
The message was accompanied by a video showing a missile blasting several stories high, hitting just below the floor on which the machine gun was located. The damage was reportedly caused by an M777 howitzer.
Newsweek could not verify whether the machine gun belonged to the Wagner Group or Russian MOD. Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, tweeted that the weapon belonged to Wagner.
Video of a Ukrainian M777 artillery strike on a Wagner machine gun position in a building in Bakhmut located by Ukrainian SSO. https://t.co/ZcDzqtpeIy pic.twitter.com/J5nMMRecYy — Rob Lee (@RALee85) May 8, 2023
Although deeply entrenched in a battle for key territory as part of this prolonged conflict that began last February, Prigozhin has remained complimentary of the Ukrainian military. Following threats to vacate the region due to a lack of ammunition, he credited the enemy for "not sparing enemy ammunition."
"A sufficient number of various foreign-made armored vehicles and a large number of drones have appeared," Prigozhin said in a recent Telegram video message. "The enemy is well equipped, well trained, acts in a coordinated manner and resists with dignity, so we move on, everything is blazing, burning."
Following threats late last week by Prigozhin to vacate his personnel from Bakhmut, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov—a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin—said he would send his own troops to fill the void.
Kadyrov also took Prigozhin's side, calling the fallout between Prigozhin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov "unpleasant."
Ukrainian military members before shooting a machine gun position of the Russian military on February 24 in Bakhmut, Ukraine. A Russian machine gun set up in a Bakhmut high-rise was taken out by Ukrainian forces on Monday, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Taras Ibragimov/Suspilne Ukraine/Getty
He called it "doubly unpleasant" that the MOD doesn't meet with Prigozhin because he "deserves respect for the invaluable contribution."
Ground combat continues less than a week after Russian officials accused Ukraine of attempting to assassinate Putin after two drones were spotted near the Kremlin, with one colliding with the physical structure.
Mikhail Alexseev, a political science professor at San Diego State University, told Newsweek via email that the assassination allegations are "a non-negligible possibility of a staged strike as part of the Kremlin's information warfare."
"Moscow's modus operandi in information ops is not to consistently promote one distinct view or position, but to stage events sowing uncertainty and doubt that could later be exploited with targeted campaigns from different angles," Alexseev said, mentioning the attempted undermining of Ukraine's Western backers in terms of additional military capabilities.
Newsweek reached out to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry via email for comment.
Source: Newsweek
