Yevgeny Prigozhin, the financier of the mercenary group, has effectively admitted his troops made no gains in the bitter battle for the city in Donetsk Oblast.
said the group's efforts had stalled due to the strength of Ukraine's defensive lines, the fortress-like nature of each house, and the need for Russians to clear building by building. This was at odds with an account he gave in October when he claimed his troops were advancing up to 200 meters a day.
A Ukrainian BMP infantry fighting vehicle in the city of Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine on December 31, 2022. Wagner mercenary soldiers fighting on Moscow's side are reportedly stalled in their fight for the city in the Donetsk Oblast."This is a significant inflection for Prigozhin," the ISW said on Tuesday, noting that it was the first time he had framed his forces"as making effectively no gains" in Bakhmut.
As recently as last month, Prigozhin had claimed the mercenaries made gains in the same city effectively without other Russian help., Prigozhin has been critical of Russian military failures in Ukraine. The ISW said that Prigozhin is likely pushing a narrative in which he can blame the Wagner Group's failure on the Russian Ministry of Defense or the Russian industrial base.
"This statement seeks to absolve the Wagner Group and Prigozhin of personal responsibility by attributing their failure to capture Bakhmut to the larger Russian resource allocation problems that Russian and Ukrainian sources have been increasingly discussing since late December," ISW said.
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