The Battle of Bakhmut is “a massacre” for Russia’s armed forces and Wagner’s mercenaries. The picture of the clash in the eastern Ukrainian city is sketched by General Mark Milley, Chief of the United States General Staff. In particular, the general focused on the role of the men of Wagner, the organization led by Yevgeny Prigozhin.
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BACHMUT – “They are currently mainly conducting combat operations in Bakhmut. There’s probably about 6,000 full-fledged mercenaries and maybe another 20 or 30,000 recruits, many of them from prisons,” Milley told the House Armed Services Committee along with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin — and they’re claiming a large number of casualties in the area Bakhmut. The Ukrainians are inflicting death and destruction on these men.”
Beyond the front, Prigozhin describes a different situation. In the battle, the Ukrainian army was “virtually destroyed, although the Wagner is quite battered”. “If two powers are fighting today – Ukraine with the whole West on one side and Russia with few allies on the other side – then Wagner’s general struggle against the armed forces of Ukraine, which we will win, is the greatest turning point in this war and in of all modern history”.
PRIGOZHIN – In his Telegram voice note, Prigozhin says Wagner is “destroying the foreign forces trying to bring Russia to its knees. This is a major turning point in the war, because only the Russian army will remain on the chessboard and all other pieces If Wagner dies in the Bakhmut meat grinder, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine and those linked by foreign arms will win and the Russian military opportunity to go further to protect Russia’s interests, we have fulfilled our historic role, period”.
GERMANY – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues to plead for support from the West and especially from the US: “The United States really understands that if they stop helping us, we will not win,” he says. Meanwhile, Kiev can count on renewed support from Germany. Berlin has approved the provision of 12 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine over the next ten years. The Bundestag budget commission has given the go-ahead for direct spending of 8 billion to buy arms and other defense equipment for Ukraine, granting a request from the foreign and defense ministries. Another 4 billion euros will be made available to replenish German stocks that have been emptied by other aid to Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, Germany has provided Ukraine with more than 14.2 billion in aid.
SAPORISHSCHIA – The International Atomic Energy Agency is working to reduce the risk of accidents at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. IAEA-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine are centered on a plan for a set of “key principles” to protect the site, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi said after visiting the site: “The idea is to on some principles, some commitments, including not attacking the facility”.
According to Grossi, the negotiations are evolving and are now no longer focused on “territorial aspects” or the creation of a security zone around the plant, but on fundamental “ideas” of protection that can be accepted by the parties without objection: “A nuclear power plant must not be a military target and must not house any equipment or weapons. That’s the deal,” he explained at the press conference, adding that he was “optimistic” as he tried to put “workable and realistic proposals on the table that can be accepted by both Ukraine and Russia.” .
The IAEA Director-General reiterated that with a “significant surge in troops in the region” and talk of “attacks” and “counterattacks” on both sides, it was important to first establish a common set of principles to protect the plant. In this regard, he stressed that talks between various UN security agencies and the armed forces of Russia and Ukraine were underway. “It is very important to agree that under no circumstances should the plant be attacked,” he repeated, admitting that “in general the situation has not improved: it is clear that military activities are increasing, so it is necessary to do everything that is possible measures and precautions to prevent attacks and to protect the facility”.