Zelensky says Putin ‘losing control’ as Ukraine’s troops prepare to repel Bakhmut assault

‘They have contaminated their own territory with such a level of hatred’

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky is seen at the start of a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group ahead of a Nato Defence Ministers Council at the alliance headquarters in Brussels (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Volodymyr Zelensky said an antisemitic rally in Russia’s Dagestan this week and an earlier military coup by Vladimir Putin’s former ally Yevgeny Prigozhin were clear signs the Russian president was “losing control”.

The Ukrainian president on Monday said the invasion of his country by Mr Putin has only led to inadvertent effects for Moscow.

“They have mobilised all their forces to try not to lose what they seized in Ukraine, but in doing so, they have contaminated their own territory with such a level of hatred and degradation that, for the second time this year, Russia is losing control over events,” said the war-time president.

“We see that mutineers are heading to Moscow, and no one is stopping them,” he said, referring to now-deceased Prigozhin’s coup earlier this year.

“We see that the power vertical in Dagestan is evaporating, leading to a real upheaval.

“These are all signals that Russia can, for now, sustain military operations and increase pressure on the frontlines in some places, but is unable to withstand this confrontation strategically,” said the Ukrainian leader.

The comments came as Kyiv’s military officials said Russia bulked up its forces around the devastated city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and tweaked the manner of its operations.

“In the Bakhmut area, the enemy has significantly strengthened its grouping and switched from defence to active actions,” general Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s commander of ground forces, wrote on Telegram.

Kyiv’s officials also said Ukraine has been preparing to repel these attacks.

Russian forces had been preparing since early this month to retake positions around Bakhmut that were lost in the months-long Ukrainian counteroffensive, according to Volodymyr Fityo, head of communications for Ukraine’s ground forces command.

“We saw this, the intelligence reported everything. We had been preparing, strengthening our defensive positions, engineering fortifications and pulling up reserves,” Mr Fityo said.

“This does not come as a surprise for us.”

Both Mr Syrskyi and Mr Fityo said Russian forces were particularly active near the Ukrainian-held town of Kupiansk in the northeast. Mr Fityo said Russia had numerical superiority.

Bakhmut was captured by Russia in May with help from private military company Wagner after witnessing some of the bloodiest fighting in the now 20-month-old war.

But Ukraine has amped up military operations to retake Bakhmut in the counteroffensive that was launched in June and that aims to retake occupied land in the country’s south and east.