Monitoring Desk
MOSCOW: The chief of the Russian mercenary group Wagner has said in a clip posted Saturday that his forces are close to the center of the frontline hotspot of Bakhmut.
In a video posted on Telegram, Yevgeny Prigozhin is seen standing on the rooftop of a high-rise building in what is said to be Bakhmut city.
“This is the building of the city administration; this is the center of the town,” Prigozhin said in the video, pointing towards a distant building.
“The building is one kilometer and two hundred meters away,” said Prigozhin, who was clad in full military gear.
Speaking as artillery boomed in the background, Prigozhin said that the most important thing now was to receive more ammunition from the army and “move forward.”
Wagner group has been spearheading offensives against major cities in eastern Ukraine, including Bakhmut, in what has become the longest fight of Russia’s year-long offensive. Both countries have suffered heavy losses around Bakhmut.
Prigozhin, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, has been entangled in a power struggle with the defence ministry.
He has repeatedly claimed battlefield victories ahead of Russia’s army, criticized Russia’s top brass, and accused the military of not sharing ammunition with his ragtag forces.
Wagner claimed to capture eastern Bakhmut
In the video released on Saturday, he said he was ready to ask Russia’s top commanders for forgiveness but at the same time appeared to mock Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
He said they were “outstanding military commanders” and added that Russia’s greatest military leaders, including Georgy Zhukov and Alexander Suvorov, “could have learned” from them.
“I absolutely — totally — support all their initiatives,” Prigozhin added.
Earlier this week, Wagner said its fighters had captured the eastern part of Bakhmut.
Some military experts have questioned the sense of the continued fight for the ravaged town, but Ukrainian officials say that the fall of Bakhmut could lead to further Russian advances in the east.
On Saturday, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, said the fight for Bakhmut helps win time in preparation for a future counteroffensive.
“The real heroes now are the defenders who are holding the eastern front on their shoulders and inflicting the heaviest possible losses sparing neither themselves nor the enemy,” Syrsky was quoted as saying in a statement.
“It is necessary to buy time to build reserves and launch a counteroffensive, which is not far off.”
British military intelligence said on Saturday that the Bakhmutka River in the center of Bakmut now marked the front line.
“Ukrainian forces control the west of the town and have demolished main bridges over the river, which runs… north-south through a strip of open ground 200 metres-800 meters wide,” the British defence ministry said in an update.
“This area has turned into a killing zone, likely making it very challenging for Wagner group forces attempting to continue their frontal assault westwards.”