2023-05-18 23:27:39
(Kyiv) The leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigojine, considered unlikely a capture in the coming days of the city of Bakhmout, epicenter of fighting for months in eastern Ukraine.
“It is unlikely that Bakhmout will be completely taken tomorrow or the day following,” Yevgeni Prigozhin said on Telegram overnight Thursday-Friday, reporting heavy fighting in the city’s southwestern suburbs.
“Bakhmut has not yet been taken. There is a suburb named “Samolet”. It is an impregnable fortress formed by rows of building bars […] The toughest battles are going on there right now,” the Wagner chief said.
“An important request therefore: happiness loves silence. Let us finish the job,” he added.
Ukraine said on Tuesday that it had regained 20 km2 on the outskirts of Bakhmout, while acknowledging that Russian forces continued to advance into the town itself, destroyed by months of fighting.
The battle for this city in Donbass is the bloodiest and longest since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
Observers doubt the strategic significance of Bakhmout’s conquest for Russia, but it would allow Moscow to post victory following several humiliating setbacks.
On the spot, the Wagner group is supported by the regular Russian army, although Evguéni Prigojine regularly accuses the military hierarchy of not giving enough ammunition to his men to be able to conquer the city.
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