The Russian military detected the movement of two Ukrainian brigades and a regiment and defeated them, Alexander Savchuk, head of the press center of the Center group of the Russian Armed Forces, said on May 21.
“On the Nevsky site and in the area of Serebryansky forestry, forces and means of intelligence of the “Center” group revealed the movement of personnel on the equipment of the 66th mechanized brigade, the 58th motorized infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the 15th regiment of the national guard. As a result of the fire impact of the artillery units of the “Center” grouping, the enemy suffered significant losses in personnel and equipment,” he said.
He added that the calculation of the Smerch multiple launch rocket system in the Krasnolymansk direction hit the positions of the Ukrainian military. Also, the artillery units of the Russian group during the counter-battery fight opened and suppressed the positions of the enemy’s cannon artillery and mortars.
In turn, the aircraft attacked ammunition depots, strongholds and points of temporary deployment of Ukrainian troops in the areas of the settlements of Kremennaya, Yampolovka, Chervonaya Dibrova.
Earlier that day, the Russian Ministry of Defense officially confirmed the liberation of Artemovsk (Ukrainian name – Bakhmut) by Russian forces. Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the Wagner Group and the Russian Armed Forces on the liberation of the city.
A day earlier, the founder of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced the complete capture of Artemovsk by Russian forces. The operation to take the city lasted 224 days.
Russia continues a special operation to protect the Donbass, whose residents refused to recognize the results of the 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine. The decision to hold it was made on February 24, 2022 against the backdrop of an aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by Ukrainian troops.