Ukraine claimed its armed forces had carried out a successful counterattack on the outskirts of Bakhmut, the bombed eastern city that Russian forces struggled to fully capture in nine months of attrition.
“In some areas of the front, the enemy could not resist the onslaught of the Ukrainian defenders and retreated to a distance of up to 2 km,” Colonel General Oleksandr Syrsky, commander of the forces, said on Wednesday. Ukrainian lands.
Syrsky claimed that Ukraine’s fierce defense of the city had “worn down” the troops of the Russian private paramilitary group Wagner, whose units are partly made up of former prisoners, forcing them “to be replaced in some directions by less well-prepared units of Russian regular troops”. [who] were defeated and fled” in the operation.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin confirmed the partial withdrawal from an area on the outskirts of the city in Donetsk province.
The resumption of territory around BakhmutOr Ukrainian forces have been expelled from much of the city, except for a far western district, comes as he prepares to launch a spring counter-offensive backed by new supplies of NATO-grade weapons . The step-by-step operation has raised hopes in Kyiv that more territory can be liberated in the eastern and southern regions, where Russian forces continue to occupy 18 percent of its territory.
“Despite the heavy concentration of troops and the loud statements of Russian war criminals about their intention to take Bakhmut before May 9, the enemy has still not been able to capture the Ukrainian city,” Syrsky said, adding : “The battle for Bakhmut continues”.
Syrsky hailed the battlefield success of the Army’s Third Assault Brigade. Its members posted videos on social media showing troops storming Russian positions in armored vehicles, fighting opposing fighters in their trenches and driving past bodies of Russian troops.
Summarizing the results of the battle, the unit said 13 Russian soldiers were killed and 25 were injured while many more fled. Members of the Ukrainian brigade recently uploaded videos of imprisoned Russian fighters.
Prigozhin, a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin, accused the country’s military leaders of not providing enough ammunition to his units.
“Our army is fleeing. The 72nd brigade pissed off 3 km² this morning, where I had lost about 500 men,” Prigozhin said in a video address on Tuesday, confirming the success of Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
Responding to a reporter’s questions in a statement on Wednesday, Prigozhin said: “There is a serious risk of encirclement of Wagner’s Private Military Company in Bakhmut due to the failure of the flanks. The flanks are already cracking and s are collapsing.
He added: “In the absence of ammunition, the ‘meat grinder’ will work in the opposite direction: the Ukrainian armed forces will destroy PMC Wagner.”
Last week, Prigozhin posted a video of himself standing over a number of dead Wagnerian fighters and threatened to withdraw his troops from Bakhmut if the Russian Ministry of Defense did not provide more ammunition.
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