The head of Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigoyine, claimed on Saturday that his men had completely taken the town of Bakhmout, the epicenter of fighting in eastern Ukraine that had been going on since last summer.
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“On May 20, 2023, at noon today, Bakhmout was completely taken,” Mr Prigozhin announced in a video broadcast by his press service on Telegram, in which he stood next to armed men in front of destroyed buildings.
“The operation to capture Bakhmout lasted 224 days. […] “There was only Wagner here,” added Mr. Prigoyine, who is in open conflict with the Russian military hierarchy.
The battle for Bakhmout, a devastated city whose strategic importance is disputed, is the longest and deadliest of the conflict. Both sides have suffered heavy casualties there, although this is where most of the fighting has been concentrated for months.
Ukraine this week claimed to have recaptured more than 20 square kilometers north and south of the city from Russian forces, but acknowledged an advance by Wagner’s fighters inside the city itself, where only a small nest of Ukrainian resistance was located to the west.
The flanks where the Ukrainians are said to have advanced near Bakhmout are held by regular troops of the Russian army, and Yevgeny Prigoyine has multiplied criticism of them, accusing them of fleeing their positions or the general staff for not supplying his men with enough ammunition.
“We not only fought with the Ukrainian army in Bachmout, but also with the Russian bureaucracy, which threw a spanner in the works,” Mr Prigozhin said on Saturday.
He again sharply criticized Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Guerasimov.
If confirmed, Bachmout’s capture would allow Moscow to claim victory after several humiliating defeats.