Russian shadow army boss He tried to explain why his group of mercenaries had been unable to capture the Ukrainian fortress of Bakhmut by claiming that Ukraine had “500 defensive lines” there.
Evgeny Prigogine claimed in an interview with RIA Novosti Announced on Tuesday, the Wagner Group appeared unable to penetrate the Ukrainian defenses in the city, the news agency reported.
The Ukrainian army has fended off Russian occupation in months of brutal battles against notorious mercenaries. In the face of relentless Russian aggression, the city gained symbolic importance.
While pro-Kremlin commentators and Prigozhin himself have been taunting Ukrainians for weeks with threats that Bakhmut will soon fall into Russian hands, Wagner bosses now believe that Western experts and British intelligence have already You seem to agree with what you expected. area immediately.
“It’s the fortress of every home,” Prigozhin said in a video released by RIA Novosti. “The men honk their horns at every house, sometimes not just for a day. Sometimes one house for weeks. They bring one of him home, a second, a third I will take it home, ”says Prigozhin.
However, they still cannot penetrate the defense.
“To tell [there are] 500 [lines of defense] Probably not wrong. Every ten meters there is a line of defense, ”said Prigozhin while meeting with the mercenaries.
One of the men under his command can be heard complaining that he doesn’t have enough equipment or weapons to push further into Bahumut.
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Wagner’s boss’ approval came after Western intelligence agencies realized the manpower behind Russian attacks in the region had been cut. has “increased the frequency” of attacks around Bakhmut, while “many of these operations were poorly supported.”
Ukrainian soldiers near Bakhmut also say the Russians appear to be “running out” of prisoners to send to the front lines.
in an interview with radio new timesYevgeny Oropay said after a failed attempt to storm Ukrainian positions during New Year’s Eve, Russian forces appeared to be “out of breath”, leaving Wagner with “heavy losses”.
But they have also learned from their mistakes and no longer carry out many attacks “indifferently,” he said.
Both sides suffered staggering losses in and around the city, and even some pro-Kremlin figures wondered whether the Russian offensive was worth the “meaningless meat grinder” they had created for them. I became suspicious.
But after a series of devastating losses elsewhere that saw Russians withdraw from territories that Putin proudly declared to be part of Russia, the city has become increasingly important to Moscow. Bakhmut, seen in some ways as Russia’s “last stand” after Ukraine recaptured Kharkov and Kherson, was overtaken by Putin after the Kremlin failed to capture Kyiv. It was also part of the Donbass region, which we called Matter.
Prigozhin, who for months boasted that his men were more ruthless and could do things the regular Russian army could not, received a series of attentions allegedly from Bakhmut in late December. Released a propaganda video to collect, in which he ordered the mercenaries to open fire, taunting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and inviting him to meet on the front lines.
“Perhaps we will meet by evening,” he said. “I will sit and wait for you near Bahmut.”
A few days later, however, Russian paratroopers were sent to the area to support Wagner’s operations.
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