(Moscow) The paramilitary group Wagner, after claiming this weekend the capture of Bakhmout in eastern Ukraine, began Thursday the transfer to the Russian regular army of its positions in this devastated city.
This operation takes place at a time when the Russian army is in a delicate situation on the flanks in Bakhmout, having lost, according to the Ukrainians, 20 square kilometers to the north and south of this city against their forces.
It also comes after an incursion on Monday and Tuesday from Ukraine into the Russian border region of Belgorod by fighters that Moscow took more than 24 hours to repel, once again highlighting the difficulties encountered by the Russian forces.
Wagner’s withdrawal
“We are withdrawing the units from Bakhmout today. By 1er June, most will relocate to rear bases,” Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video posted on Telegram.
In these images, he greets his men by giving them instructions and wishing them good luck, this time avoiding repeating his criticisms of the Russian army staff, with which he is in open conflict.
“We retire, we rest, we prepare, then we will receive new tasks,” adds Mr. Prigojine.
A Ukrainian deputy defense minister, Ganna Maliar, confirmed that Wagner’s men had left their positions to Russian regular troops “in the outskirts of Bakhmout”.
“Wagner’s units remain in the city of Bakhmout. Our soldiers control the “Avion” district in the southwestern suburbs,” she added, Kyiv still denying the total loss of this city.
Bakhmout, an industrial city of some 70,000 people before the conflict, was the scene of the longest (triggered in the summer of 2022) and deadliest battle of the Russian offensive.
Mr. Prigojine on Wednesday assessed the death toll in the ranks of his group at 10,000 inmates recruited from Russian prisons and a similar proportion, not precisely quantified, of his professional fighters.
“Terrorizing Ukraine”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denied the loss of Bakhmut, while his army claimed to control an “insignificant” pocket of it in the west while carrying out offensives on the Russian flanks.
Ukraine says it is betting on a breakthrough around this city to achieve its “tactical encirclement”.
“The (Russian) enemy is trying to stop our advance on the flanks with artillery fire. He is reinforcing the flanks with additional units,” Ms.me Maliar.
The Ukrainian Air Force, for its part, reported during the night a new Russian attack by 36 Iranian-made Shahed drones, which were all destroyed, stressing that infrastructure and sites were “probably” targeted. soldiers from southern Ukraine.
Russia “continues to terrorize Ukraine” with its night attacks, denounced Mr. Zelensky on Telegram.
Russian authorities on the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014, said they had shot down six Ukrainian drones overnight.
Japan at the same time announced that it had fighters take off on Thursday after detecting two Russian reconnaissance planes near its coasts, one in the Pacific Ocean and the other in the Sea of Japan.
This incident, which is not the first of its kind, occurs a few days after the presence of Volodymyr Zelensky at the G7 Summit which was organized in Hiroshima.
Incursion
In Russia itself, the authorities were confronted on Monday and Tuesday with the largest armed incursion by a group of fighters from Ukraine since the start of the conflict.
This operation was claimed by two groups of Russians fighting alongside the Ukrainians, whose representatives have been identified as being figures of the nebula of the Russian extreme right.
One of these organizations, the “Russian Freedom Legion”, considered “terrorist” by Moscow, declared on Telegram on Wednesday evening that it had two killed and 10 wounded in its ranks during this incursion.
The Russians, for their part, claimed to have “crushed” these attackers using aviation and artillery, claiming to have killed “more than 70” of them.
On the diplomatic level, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Li Hui, sent by Beijing to Europe to discuss a political settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, would be visiting Moscow on Friday for “consultations” on this subject.