Russian police officers have started working in the city of Artyomovsk in the Donetsk People’s Republic after the complete capture of the city from Ukraine last week, the acting head of the region announced on Wednesday.

• “Starting from today, we have brought the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation to Artemovsk,” Denis Pushilin said, adding that police officers would be tasked with locating and evacuating any civilians who may still be in the city.

He noted that, in the future, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and other Russian agencies would also start operating in Artyomovsk. After that, work on demining the city will begin, he said.

• On Saturday, Evgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner private military company, announced that the operation to take control of Artyomovsk had ended and that the city had been “fully captured.” 
• He also said the Wagner Group would remain in Artyomovsk until Thursday, after which it will hand over control of the city to the Russian Defense Ministry and go on leave to rest and regroup.

The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that the operation to capture the city had been successfully executed by the Wagner PMC with artillery and air support from regular Russian forces. President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Wagner servicemen and Russian military troops on their success.

Ukraine, which previously claimed that Artyomovsk would be defended at any cost and would become a turning point in the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, has thus far refused to admit the loss of the city.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has insisted that fighting for the city was still ongoing. However, at the same time, President Vladimir Zelensky’s senior adviser Mikhail Podoliak vowed on Sunday that Ukraine’s armed forces would inevitably recapture Artyomovsk.

A salt mining city with a pre-conflict population of 72,000, Artyomovsk has been the stage of a bloody battle for many months as the city is seen as a key strategic stronghold in the region. Russian forces nearly encircled it and methodically pushed the Ukrainian Army from the western suburbs.

The city has been largely destroyed during the fighting.

Source: RT

The acting head of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, has visited recently-liberated Artyomovsk (known in Ukraine as Bakhmut) to assess the damage inflicted by months-long fighting in the city, posting footage from the scene to his Telegram channel on Tuesday.

There’s still a lot of work to do in the city, which is full of munitions and mines left behind by the Ukrainian troops, Pushilin admitted, as he erected the DPR flag.

The official also explained why it was called Artyomovsk in Russia, while Ukraine – and its Western backers – refer to it as Bakhmut.

• The city was renamed under former Ukrainian president Pyotr Poroshenko, who launched the so-called ‘de-communization’ movement, which was designed to eradicate Soviet-era names. The DPR does not recognize these re-namings, and has special legislation to address the matter, Pushilin explained.

“Bakhmut is a name from the Russian Empire. But under the Soviet Union it was called Artyomovsk, and that’s how we remember it. Moreover, there is a corresponding decree, which states that all the names of cities and districts [within the formerly-Ukrainian Donetsk Region] shall be reverted to the state of May 11, 2014,” Pushilin said, referring to the day when the republic was proclaimed.

Founded in the late 16th century under Russian Tsar Ivan IV (popularly known as ‘The Terrible’), the city was originally a border outpost known as the ‘Bakhmut Guard-fort’. Later on, Bakhmut grew into a larger fortress, ultimately becoming a full-fledged town in the mid-18th century. The town was renamed Artyomovsk in 1924 to commemorate Russian revolutionary Fedor Sergeev, best known under the alias ‘Comrade Artem’.

The village of New York, another location renamed under Poroshenko, will be among the next settlements to get liberated, Pushilin stated, warning it“will be New York no more.”

The village’s unlikely name, in fact, is the original one, since the location was founded by a German Mennonite community that had been invited into the Russian Empire by Catherine the Great. The village was called New York until 1951, when it was renamed Novgorodskoye.

Source: RT