(Kyiv) The boss of the paramilitary group Wagner, which is actively involved in the fighting in Ukraine, predicts that the war could last for years.
In a video interview released Friday, Yevgeny Prigozhin said it would take between 18 months and two years for Russia to take full control of Donbass, Ukraine’s industrial heartland. He added that the war could last three years if Moscow decides to seize larger territories east of the Dnieper.
The statement by Mr Prigozhin, a millionaire who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and has been dubbed “Putin’s boss” because of his lucrative Kremlin catering contracts, shows recognition of the difficulties faced by the Kremlin in this campaign, which it initially thought could be concluded within weeks when Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Russia suffered a series of humiliating setbacks in the fall, when the Ukrainian army launched successful counter-offensives to retake large swaths of territory in the east and south. The Kremlin has avoided making predictions about how long the fighting will last, saying what it calls “the special military operation” will continue until its goals are achieved.
Russian forces have focused on the Ukrainian provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk that make up the Donbass region, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014.
Ukrainian and Western officials have warned that Russia could launch a new large-scale offensive to try to turn the tide of the conflict, as the war nears the one-year mark. But Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Chernyak told the Kyiv Post that “the Russian command does not have sufficient resources for large-scale offensive actions. »
“The main objective of Russian troops remains to achieve at least a tactical success in eastern Ukraine,” he said.
Mr Prigozhin said the Wagner Group mercenaries continued to fight hard for control of the Ukrainian stronghold of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. He acknowledged that Ukrainian troops put up fierce resistance.
As Russian troops pushed their attacks into the Donbass, Moscow also sought to demoralize Ukrainians by leaving them without heat and water in the freezing winter.
On Friday, Russia launched the 14e series of massive strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities and other vital infrastructure. High-voltage infrastructure facilities were hit in the eastern, western and southern regions, leading to power outages in some areas.
Ukraine’s energy company, Ukrenergo, said on Saturday the situation was “difficult, but controllable”, adding that back-up arrangements had been put in place to maintain power supplies, but power rationing would continue in some areas.