The Ukrainian army said on Wednesday that Russian forces had begun withdrawing in the important thing city of Bakhmut, as President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed that more time was needed to arrange for a counterattack.
In accordance with a Ukrainian ground forces commander, a hotly fought city in eastern Ukraine was the backdrop to lots of the war’s fiercest battles, apparently abandoned by some Russian troops.
Colonel General Oleksandr Syrski said that Russian troops in parts of Bakhmut retreated after triumphant counterattacks that weakened Wagner’s troops.
He said the units that fled had fallen back about 1.2 miles.
“In some areas of the front, the enemy couldn’t resist the attack of the Ukrainian defenders and retreated to a distance of as much as 2 kilometers,” or about 1.2 miles, Syrskyi wrote in a Telegram post.
The Ukrainian offensive exhausted Wagner’s forces, prompting the Russian command to fill some flanks with less skilled units.
“Despite a big concentration of troops and loud statements by Russian war criminals about their intention to seize Bakhmut by May 9, the enemy has still not been capable of capture the Ukrainian city,” he said.
Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin confirmed on Thursday that Ukrainian troops “successfully entered a few of our flanks towards Bakhmut.”
In a video shared by Telegram on Tuesday, Prigozhin said the troops were fleeing due to “foolishness” of Russian commanders, Al Jazeera reported.
“A soldier shouldn’t die due to absolute stupidity of his leaders,” he said. “The orders they receive from above are absolutely criminal.”
Later that day, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that “assault troops” or Wagner units were still fighting in Bakhmut. The ministry didn’t comment on Prigozhin’s claims that the soldiers had abandoned their posts.
Operation Bakhmut just isn’t a part of the expected Ukrainian counter-offensive, for which the country still needs time to arrange, Zelensky said in an interview on Thursday.
“WITH [what we have] we will move forward and achieve success” Zelensky told BBC News. “But we’d lose plenty of people. I feel that is unacceptable. So we’ve got to attend. We’d like some more time.
While it is unclear when Ukraine will strike back, Zelensky expressed confidence that the military could move forward and rejected the thought of a “frozen conflict” that he said Russia was “counting on”.
In accordance with Zelensky, any result disappointing Ukraine’s western allies may mean a discount in military support and increased pressure on negotiations with Russia.
“Everyone can have an idea,” Zelensky said. “[But] they can’t force Ukraine to give up territories. Why would any country in the world quit its territory to Putin?”
With postal wires.