Russians rejoice as 'Fortress Bakhmut' falls.

Russian private military contractor, the Wagner Group, claimed victory in the east Ukrainian town of Bakhmut after an eight-month battle, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denies. Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the Russian army and Wagner mercenary group on the capture of Artemovsk. Despite Moscow's claims of victory, former Russian soldier and intelligence officer, Igor Girkin, painted a bleaker picture, describing the capture of Bakhmut as not a victory in any tactical sense, but part of the Kremlin's policy of "freezing the conflict through a compromise agreement".