Ukrainian forces have inflicted casualties on Russian Wagner Group forces withdrawing from the city of Bakhmut, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s armed forces has said.
Serhii Cherevatyi said clashes in the city in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region have significantly decreased, but that Ukraine had killed 80 Wagner Group fighters and wounded a further 119 as they retreated from Bakhmut.
The Russian paramilitary group’s chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced in a video message on May 25 that Wagner mercenaries had begun their retreat from the embattled city of Bakhmut, and that they will completely withdraw by June 1, giving way to regular Russian units.
Yevhenii Zavhorodnii/Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images
Prigozhin’s fighters had been involved in the bloody battle for Bakhmut since the summer in 2022. Their recent withdrawal came after Prigozhin released several videos aimed at Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, accusing them of intentionally depriving his fighters of ammunition.
Prigozhin said in an interview with pro-Moscow blogger Konstantin Dolgov published on May 23 that the Wagner Group had lost thousands of fighters in the battle for Bakhmut.
“Throughout the [Bakhmut] operation, I recruited 50,000 prisoners, of which about 20 percent died. Exactly the same number died as those who signed up through a contract,” Prigozhin said.
The U.S. estimated in February that more than 30,000 Wagner mercenaries had been killed since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“In recent days, we have seen a significant decrease in fighting, there were two to three clashes. This day there were none at all. The enemy continues to rotate, withdrawing the ‘Wagner’ group, replacing it with units of airborne troops and motorized infantry,” Cherevatyi said on Ukrainian television, according to news outlet Ukrinform.
Cherevatyi said the withdrawal “has a depressing effect on those who take their place.”
“Because they themselves have already taken part in a lot of fighting, this is the second or third group that comes in, plus they see the condition of the criminals from ‘Wagner’, plus we give them generous amounts of food on the way,” he continued.
Cherevatyi said Ukraine’s armed forces destroyed one armored personnel carrier, one drone, an anti-aircraft gun, two other vehicles and five ammunition depots in the recent fighting.
“We managed to break their combat potential, we managed to destroy the ‘Wagner’ criminal group, and all these bravura statements are just a latent surrender. [Prigozhin] is fleeing, leaving Bakhmut to preserve the remnants of his group,” Cherevatyi added.
Russia last week celebrated the capture of Bakhmut, although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected claims the industrial city is entirely under Russian control.
Newsweek has contacted Russia’s Foreign Ministry for comment via email.
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