Russia-Ukraine Flash Report 26 MAY 2023 12:30 PDT - Russia Does Not Have Full Control of Bakhmut, Now with Video (Patreon)

We've been waiting for more information from Russian sources to support their claims that Bakhmut is fully captured.

We got the opposite.

The Ukrainian 93rd Brigade (aka the gods of war) posted a video of a DRG unit in Bakhmut west of Yuvileyna Street. Their car is parked near the block of apartments southeast of the Children's Hospital, about here. Weather conditions matched, and we know from Prigozhin's video yesterday and that there were NASA FIRMS heat signatures that large thunderstorms with torrential rain did not reach Bakhmut yesterday.

They drive east down the dirt track, passing Levanevskogo Street, then turn southwest toward the Illyus Stov complex, which Ukraine still fully controls on the edge of Bakhmut. It is not a fun drive but accomplished in a sedan.

Based on this video, we've pulled the line of conflict to Yuvilenya Street, and this confirms that Russia does not fully control the block between Levanevskogo Street and Tchaikovsky, as we had previously mapped.

All of the buildings west of Yuvilenya Street to the dirt road that leads to Illyus Stove are contested and probably have been since May 20. Given the contested nature of this area, we will not change our assessment that Ukraine controls about 1 square kilometer of Bakhmut.