The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has accused Moscow’s defence officials of lying about the situation on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine, after they denied that Kyiv’s forces had retaken territory around the ruined city of Bakhmut.
Ukrainian troops had “advanced 2km in the Bakhmut area” and “did not lose a single position” in the city this week, Kyiv’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Friday.
Earlier this week, the Wagner leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, took to social media to accuse Moscow officials of depriving his mercenaries of the shells they need to fight for Bakhmut and said Russian military units had abandoned positions near the city, allowing Ukraine’s troops to advance.
The Russian defence ministry denied that its lines had been broken and insisted the situation on the battlefield was “under control”, but spokesman Igor Konashenkov did acknowledge on Friday that Moscow’s troops had taken up new positions near the Berkhivka reservoir close to Bakhmut, “to enhance the stability of defences”.
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Mr Prigozhin quickly poured scorn on his account, saying that Russian troops had not made a “tactical retreat” on the flanks near Bakhmut but had simply “run away”.
In the past day, Ukraine’s forces had regained full control of a key supply route into Bakhmut, which also gives them “the tactical heights, from which Bakhmut will be in the palm of their hand”, Mr Prigozhin said on social media.
He claimed that his fighters now held all but 20 apartment blocks in Bakhmut, but that Ukraine’s gains on the flanks around the city were now the key factor in the months-long battle for the road and rail junction.
“Taking Bakhmut will give the Russian Federation nothing, because the flanks are crumbling, the front is collapsing, and attempts by the defence ministry to somehow gloss over this in the information field will lead to an immense tragedy for Russia. So you need to stop lying immediately,” he said.
Warning that more missteps could provoke “a great tragedy for our country”, Mr Prigozhin asked pointedly whether only his Wagner group would face accusations of treason if they left their positions in Bakhmut, or whether the charge could also be levelled at “the military leadership, thanks to whose actions those flanks were abandoned”.
Some Kyiv officials say Mr Prigozhin’s tirades against Moscow officials reveal splits and discord in Russia’s increasingly febrile ranks, while others accuse him of trying to shift the blame for the Wagner group’s failure to take Bakhmut despite months of intense effort.
Mr Prigozhin claimed this week that Ukraine’s military movements around Bakhmut showed that it had already launched its big spring counteroffensive, but the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said his forces were still awaiting delivery of more western weaponry.
On Saturday, the German government said it will provide Ukraine with additional military aid worth more than €2.7 billion, including tanks, anti-aircraft systems and ammunition.
Defence minister Boris Pistorius said Berlin wants to show with the latest package of arms “that Germany is serious in its support” for Ukraine.
The announcement came as preparations were under way in Berlin for a possible first visit to Germany by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy since Russia invaded his country last year.
Earlier in the week on Thursday, Britain became the first country to pledge long-range cruise missiles to Kyiv, when it announced delivery of Storm Shadow rockets with a range of more than 250km, which Ukraine could use to hit Russian targets deep inside occupied territory.
“Thanks for the missiles. They don’t substitute planes though,” Andriy Yermak, Mr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, said on Friday.
“Ukraine still needs the F-16s to deprive the Russians of tools to terrorise civilians. Ukrainian airspace needs to be cleared of Russian aircraft. The sooner we do it together, the sooner the aggressor will be defeated.”
China said its special representative for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, would visit Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and Russia from Monday as part of Beijing’s effort to broker a ceasefire in a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions. – Additional reporting: AP
