The commander of the Russian forces sends a signal not to give up in Bakhmut: Update on Ukraine
The head of Russia’s Wagner private military group said his forces would continue their brutal campaign to capture Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian city ravaged by one of the longest battles of the war. The Times warned that the Kremlin needed to more clearly define its military goals. as Ukraine prepares to launch a possible counterattack.
Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group, said in an interview posted on messaging network Telegram on Thursday: “First of all, we need to decide where we are going or where to stop. . “As soon as this is fully established, it will become clear when the SVO will end,” he said, using the Russian abbreviation for the Kremlin’s term for the war, “military operation.” special”.
As the Russian invasion enters its 14th month, officials on both sides are signaling that fighting will intensify as temperatures warm in the spring. President Biden’s National Security Council Spokesperson said this week that Russia is planning further attacks, while officials in both Kiev and Moscow have suggested that Ukraine will soon launch a new effort to regain lost territory to the east and south. .
Both armies poured huge resources into Bakhmut, where Russia has failed to conquer despite eight months of fighting. Oleksandr Syrsky, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, said on Thursday that Russian forces “haven’t given up hope of capturing Bakhmut at any cost,” though he said he had seen signs that the warriors from Wagner’s group there “are losing considerable strength and becoming weaker”. exhausted.”
“Soon,” he say on Telegram“We will take advantage of this opportunity.”
Than State-of-the-art weapons from Western allies, including tanks and fighter jets, are starting to arrive and could help Ukraine launch the offensive. But it remains unclear whether Ukraine’s exhausted soldiers can quickly change the course of the war in Bakhmut. Kiev’s forces are also said to have suffered large number of dead and wounded there during the incessant Russian bombardment and in defending against near-suicide attacks by Russian infantry, including former prisoners recruited by Wagner.
Moscow’s forces entered Bakhmut, and street battles broke out, with two armies hiding in abandoned and ruined factories, according to Russian and Ukrainian accounts of the fighting. . But the Russian forces were not able to drive the Ukrainian army out of the city or cut off the the last roads lead west out of the cityroutes that Kiev’s forces used to resupply and fortify their defenses.
Mr. Prigozhin gave no indication that he would stop Wagner’s attempt to capture Bakhmut. “The Bakhmut meat grinder continues,” he said in his comment, pointing to the map in front of him.
But his warning to military planners in the Kremlin underscored what even supporters of the Russian war effort see as one of the biggest problems in the way President Vladimir V. Putin launched the invasion: He didn’t specify what Russia’s goal was.
Mr. Prigozhin – a once-secret tycoon close to Putin helped him amass a fortune before he founded Russia’s most famous mercenary force – has frequently criticized Russian military officials for not providing his fighters, whom he described as more effective than the regular army, with adequate equipment and support.
At another point in the interview, Prigozhin appeared to question one of Putin’s reasons for going to war: the false claim that Ukraine was run by “Nazis”. “I don’t know about denuclearization of Ukraine,” Prigozhin said. “Are there Nazis there or not? I didn’t crawl around in it.
He also said that Russia needed to prepare for more Ukrainian attacks and urged Russian officials, as he has done in the past, to avoid downplaying Ukraine’s will to fight.
He said of the Ukrainian soldiers: “They are not running, they are fighting, they are waiting for death where they are supposed to be. “They are behaving with absolute dignity.”
Russian officials appear to be increasingly trying to prepare their public for an impending Ukrainian attack. Dmitri A. Medvedev, vice chairman of Putin’s Security Council, said in comments made Friday that the military is ready for Ukraine to attack.
“They are preparing for various offensive operations – everyone knows that. “Our General Staff is taking this into account and preparing our solutions.”
