Russian private military company Wagner group starts withdrawal from Bakhmut according to leader Yevgeny Prigozhin

Prigozhin made the statement in a video published on Thursday. He further said that the forces from the Russian defense will now take over.

Russian forces announced at the weekend that they had taken full control of Bakhmut, and President Vladimir Putin congratulated his forces and the Wagner forces on their victory in the town.

However, Ukraine denied that Bakhmut had fallen. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar said on Monday that parts of the city were still under Ukrainian control and that Ukrainian soldiers were still in Bakhmut.

The Wagner leader has claimed that the group has lost over 20,000 soldiers in the battles for Bakhmut. The figures have not been verified by independent sources and are far higher than the official estimates of just over 6,000 fallen soldiers on the Russian side.

The battles for Bakhmut have been the longest and bloodiest of the war in Ukraine. For almost ten months, since last summer, the Russians have tried to take the city, which many experts believe does not have a great strategic value.