The Wagner Group of mercenaries are likely to be used for further Russian operations in the Donbas region as they start their withdrawal from parts of Bakhmut, British defense officials have said.
Head of the private military company, Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Friday that his troops had started to draw back from the Donetsk city and that positions would be transferred to regular Russian forces until June 1.
Prigozhin has waged a months-long feud with the Russian defense establishment which he repeatedly criticized for not providing his troops with enough ammunition. Last week, Prigozhin said his forces had captured the city in claims initially denied by Ukraine, although Kyiv later acknowledged that the city had “essentially” been lost, The New York Times reported.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Saturday that Russian forces have continued attacking but that “overall offensive activity has decreased.”
Yevhenii Zavhorodnii/Getty Images
This was because “troops are being replaced and regrouped,” Malyar said on Telegram, adding that Russia “is trying to strengthen its own capabilities.”
Meanwhile, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said on Saturday that forces from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) had probably entered Bakhmut to start “clearance operations.”
Also, parts of the 31st Brigade of Russia’s Airborne Forces (VDV) had likely moved from the Svatove-Kreminna area to reinforce the flanks of the town.
By the middle of May, Ukrainian forces had taken 7.7 square miles on Bakhmut’s flanks, and the rotation out of Wagner forces “is likely to continue in controlled phases to prevent collapse in pockets around Bakhmut,” the U.K. MOD said.
Regardless of Prigozhin’s continued dispute with the Russian MOD, “Wagner forces will likely be used for further offensive operations in the Donbas following reconstituting its forces,” added the daily update, which tends to emphasize Russian gains and Ukrainian losses.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.
Ukrainian sources have said Wagner forces are still in Bakhmut and that the tempo of Russian offensive operations around the city continues to decrease, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
The think tank said on Friday that continued successful limited Ukrainian counterattacks on Bakhmut’s flanks “may complicate” the Russian operation to relieve Wagner troops in Bakhmut.
A Russian milblogger shared video of Prigozhin visiting rear positions where Wagner forces are supposedly withdrawing to. However, the ISW said that it had seen confirmation that regular Russian forces are taking up Wagner positions in Bakhmut itself “or that Wagner is leaving the city.”