[1/4] Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the private Wagner mercenary group, makes a statement in this still image as he stands alongside Wagner fighters in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in Bakhmut, Ukraine…Read more
May 20 (Portal) – Russia’s mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday his Wagner fighters had completed the capture of Bakhmut, but Ukraine dismissed the claim and said fighting was still ongoing.
Prigozhin made this claim in a video in which he appeared in combat fatigues in front of a line of fighters with Russian flags and Wagner banners.
“Today, at 12 noon, Bakhmut was completely trapped,” Prigozhin said. “We completely took over the whole city, from house to house.”
Ukrainian military spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyi told Portal: “This is not true. Our units are fighting in Bachmut.”
Bakhmut was at the center of the longest and bloodiest battle of Russia’s war in Ukraine, which has almost reached the end of its 15th month.
Distant explosions could be heard in the background as Prigozhin spoke during the video, in which he said his troops would withdraw from Bakhmut to rest and retrain from May 25, handing over control to the regular Russian army.
Prigozhin mocked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Joe Biden, who attended a Group of Seven summit in Japan on Saturday where the Ukraine war was a priority for world leaders.
Prigozhin turned to Zelenskyy and said: “If you see Biden today, kiss him on the head and give him my regards.”
Prigozhin repeated frequent complaints in the past that his troops suffered far greater casualties than necessary due to inadequate army support and ammunition supplies. Earlier this month he threatened to withdraw his troops after releasing a furious tirade against Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu while standing in a field covered in bloody corpses.
Because of the Russian bureaucracy and the “vagaries” of Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov, “five times more men died than they should have,” he said in Saturday’s video.
His claim to victory followed fierce fighting around the city last week, during which Ukraine said it had pushed back some Russian forces.
British Defense Intelligence said on Saturday it was “highly likely” that Russia deployed up to several battalions to reinforce the Bakhmut sector after Ukraine scored tactical successes on the city’s flanks. This represents a “remarkable commitment by the Russian command,” it said.
“The Russian leadership is likely to continue to view the capture of Bakhmut as the most important immediate war objective that would allow them to achieve some degree of success in the conflict,” it said on Twitter.
Prigozhin himself admitted that Bakhmut, a pre-war town of 70,000, had no strategic importance but acquired enormous symbolic importance for both sides due to the sheer intensity of the fighting and the scale of the casualties.
Reporting by Portal. Edited by Peter Graff
Our standards: The Thomson Portal Trust Principles.
Mark Trevelyan