Both Russia and Ukraine claim control over Andriivka village near Bakhmut

(Patria) - Russia and Ukraine on Saturday claimed control over the devastated village of Andriivka near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, Reuters reported.

The Russian Minister of Defense rejected Ukrainian claims that they had recaptured Andriivka, which Kyiv presented as a springboard to a larger city. The commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces released a video allegedly showing the capture of the village.

A Ukrainian military spokesperson said that Ukrainian troops are advancing in both the east and the south. The Russian Ministry of Defense's combat report stated that they still hold at least two key villages south of Bakhmut, known in Russia by their Soviet-era name, Artyomovsk.

"The enemy has not abandoned plans to capture the city of Artyomovsk in the Donetsk People's Republic and has continued to carry out assault operations... unsuccessfully trying to drive Russian troops out of the populated centers of Klishchiivka and Andriivka," the ministry said.
Andriivka lies south of Bakhmut and is also largely destroyed.

The report said that Russian forces repelled 16 Ukrainian attacks in that sector over the past week, with enemy losses of more than 1,700 killed and wounded, along with 16 tanks. Ukrainian General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the ground forces, posted a video on Telegram that he said provided evidence that Ukrainians have full control of Andriivka.

The footage shows Ukrainian soldiers advancing across empty, devastated ground marked by the burnt remains of trees and taking cover in buildings reduced to ruins.

Another video shows trucks speeding down an abandoned road.
A correspondent for Ukrainian radio Hromadske said that the destruction in Andriivka had made the village unrecognizable.

"We know that Andriivka is so destroyed that soldiers don't even know where to place the flagpole with the Ukrainian flag," said correspondent Yanina Lvutina.