The regular forces of the Russian army "fled" to Bakhmut. This is stated by Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the private military company Wagner. Moscow Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russian units had "regrouped" to take a more advantageous line. "What Konashenkov said is called escape, not regrouping," Prigozhin commented on his Telegram channel.
In a video message of more than five minutes, Prigozhin accuses Moscow's Foreign Ministry of "sweetening" reports on the situation in Bakhmut and warns that this will lead to "a total tragedy for Russia." The agreement with the army, Prigozhin says, was that Wagner's assault forces would continue to advance into Bakhmut to capture the entire city and that regular Moscow forces would take control of the flanks to protect the militiamen. But the Russian soldiers have abandoned their flanks and now the situation is being reversed and the Ukrainians could surround the Wagner units that continue to advance in the city center. For the Wagner militiamen the situation is all the more dangerous, adds Prigozhin, as on the sides of the front there are heights, from which it is possible to keep the entire city under fire.
Kiev army, 'Russian troops exhausted in Bakhmut' The defensive operation of the Ukrainian army in Bakhmut "is successful" and the Russian troops "are exhausted and bleeding." This was stated by Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, quoted by Ukrinform. "In the last day alone, 40 clashes occurred here, as a result of which 190 occupants were killed, 244 injured and another 15 were captured. Three tanks, an infantry fighting vehicle, three Msta-B howitzers and 5 ammunition stores were destroyed. This indicates that our defense operation continues successfully, the enemy is exhausted and bleeding. Wagner did not meet any deadline, Bakhmut was not caught," Cherevaty said. "As a result of successful combat operations in various directions, the enemy was defeated and repelled at a distance of 250 meters to 1.5 kilometers. Bakhmut is resisting and our defenders are destroying the enemy and chasing him in places," he concluded.