The Russian Defense Ministry on Friday claimed that Russian forces took control of Kryshchivka, a settlement south of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region. Reuters reported that before the war, about 400 people lived in the village of Kryschievka. The village is said to have been taken with the help of air support.
Russia’s request came on a day when Western allies gathered in Germany to plan future military aid to Ukraine. On that day, President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded tanks and long-range missiles to fight Russia.
The claims about Kryshchievka came a day after Evgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Russian Wagner mercenary unit, said that his unit had claimed more land near Bakhmut and captured the village of Kryshchievka. “We can say with confidence that one of Bakhmut’s main suburbs, the Krishchievka settlement, has now been placed entirely under the control of the Wagner PMC unit,” Prigozin said Thursday.
Russian-controlled militants in Donetsk Oblast say Moscow seized the village of Klishchiivka near Bakhmut.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) January 20, 2023
Ukraine's General Staff hasn't confirmed the loss of the village but mentioned Russian attacks on Klishchiivka in its daily update. https://t.co/q8VqfmfkN7
Meanwhile, a senior Moscow official said on Friday that fighting in the Zaporizhia region of southern Ukraine had “increased sharply.”
As quoted by the AFP news agency, the official Vladimir Rogov said on the social media platform Telegram:
“The intensity of military activity is increasing sharply towards Zaporizhia.”