The head of Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group, Evgueni Prigozhin, said Monday (20) that its fighters control “about 70%” of Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine that has concentrated fighting in recent months.
“Currently, Wagner’s units control about 70 percent of Bakhmut and are conducting an offensive for its complete liberation,” Prigozhin said in a letter to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, published by his press service on Telegram.
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It has not been possible to verify these claims with an independent source.
Prigozhin further stated that he expected a counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces in late March or early April, which he said would “separate Wagner’s units from the main forces of the Russian army”.
In it, he called on the Russian defense minister to “take action” to prevent this.
Prigozhin is openly at odds with the Russian military hierarchy, which he accuses of not providing his troops with enough ammunition and has repeatedly attacked Shoigu.
Bakhmut a town that had a population of 70,000 before the war has become a symbol of the struggle for dominance in the Donbass industrial region due to the length of this struggle and heavy casualties on both sides.
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