The Wagner group transfers their positions in Bakhmut to the Russian army
The Russian paramilitary group Wagner began handing over its positions in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut to the army this Thursday, April 25 Russia. For months, the place has been the epicenter of the conflict, which is entering its second year. “Today we withdraw units from Bachmut. By June 1, most will be transferred to rear bases,” Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group, said in a video released by his communications bureau. “We are handing over the positions, the ammunition and everything in the military to the military. We have withdrawn, we will rest, prepare and receive further instructions,” he added. The group claims to have conquered the region Ukraine deny. Contrary to what he said, in an interview with Russian military blogger Konstantin Dolgov, the Wagner group said that Moscow’s attempt to destabilize Kiev had made enemy forces “the most powerful in the world”. He described the Ukrainian army as having “a high level of organizational ability, a high level of training and a high level of intelligence,” adding: “They have various types of weapons and, more importantly, they can easily and efficiently.” work.” Success with all systems: Soviet, NATO systems… you name it”.
The transfer comes at a time when the Russian army is fighting on Bakhmut’s flanks. According to Kiev, Moscow troops lost 20 square kilometers north and south of the city to Ukrainian forces. The group’s founder, Wagner, claims that nearly 10,000 of the 50,000 inmates recruited from Russian prisons died in Ukraine and that a similar number of the group’s professional fighters also died in the fighting. “I selected 50,000 prisoners, 20% of whom died,” he said, noting that his group’s death toll was three times lower than that of the Ukrainian armed forces. The same applies to the wounded, of whom he believes there are twice as many. This transfer process follows an incursion by Ukrainian fighters into the Russian border region of Belgorod on Monday and Tuesday, which took Moscow more than 24 hours to counterattack, once again highlighting the difficulties faced by Russian forces.
Ganna Maliar, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister, confirmed that Wagner Group troops had ceded positions to official Russian troops “on the outskirts of Bakhmut.” “Wagner Group units remain in the town of Bakhmut,” Maliar said, before reporting that Ukrainian soldiers still control an area of the southwestern suburb of Bakhmut. The industrial city, scene of the fiercest and longest battle of the Russian offensive, had a population of 70,000 before the conflict. Ukraine hopes to continue its advance along the coast of Bakhmut with the aim of establishing a “tactical encirclement” of the city. “The enemy is trying to stop our advance on the flanks with artillery fire. It reinforces the flanks with more units,” Maliar explained.
Also on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of continuing to “terrorize” Ukraine, saying the country’s army shot down 36 Russian drones in night raids. “The enemy planned to attack key infrastructure and military areas in the south of the country,” he said. At the same time, proMoscow authorities on the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, claimed they shot down six Ukrainian drones overnight. On the diplomatic front, Russia announced that Chinese envoy Li Hui, sent from Beijing to the European continent to discuss a political solution to the conflict in Ukraine, would visit Moscow for “consultation” on Friday.