The founder of the private military company “Wagner”, Yevgeny Prigozhin, indicated that the prolonged battle of Bakhmut gives an advantage to the Russian forces, stressing that the Ukrainian army is “grinding” in the city, which has been witnessing a fierce battle for about 8 months, and that control of the city will not be accelerated. Victory over Ukraine.
Prigozhin said, in an article published Friday on the Telegram channel of the press service of Wagner’s forces, that “the continuation of the ongoing battle for control of Bakhmut is very beneficial for the Russian forces.”
The founder of Wagner explained that the length of the battle gives the Russian army “the opportunity to regroup forces, control important lines of defense, deal with internal problems, and complete preparations and armaments to face counter-attacks.”
He continued, saying, “For us, the battle of Bakhmut is very useful. We are crushing the Ukrainian army there and confronting its maneuvers,” according to what was reported by the Russian news agency TASS.
Prigozhin repeated some of what the Ukrainian leadership said about the fact that the city of Bakhmut is “not of great importance,” and said that it does not represent great importance to Kiev, as it is a factor destabilizing them more than being a catalyst for their retention of positions.
Control of Bakhmut will not hasten victory
Prigozhin indicated in the article that the Russian forces’ control of Bakhmut will not hasten victory over Ukraine, explaining that “the city’s strategic role is not great.”
He added, “After Bakhmut, there are Seversk, Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Konstantinovka, Druzkovka, and Chasev Yar, which are towns within the so-called ‘Donbass ring’ and constitute fortified areas.”
Prigozhin explained that Bakhmut represented part of this fortified region, and that “its capture would not guarantee a quick victory over Ukraine, nor would it open the way to the Dnieper, nor would it even guarantee the capture of Donbass.”
He also stressed that the leadership of the Ukrainian side is constantly arguing “about the need to keep “Bakhmut”. They created a symbol of steadfastness from it,” according to Russia Today.
The founder of Wagner said that the Ukrainian army has gathered a sufficient number of forces and that there are about 200,000 trained fighters who have passed two or three months of training and coordination, and are ready to perform combat missions, and concluded that the amount of weapons and ammunition with these 200 thousand is sufficient to launch Attack in different directions.
