Prigozhin makes it clear: Russia must not lose the Ukraine war under any circumstances

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, expects Ukraine to recapture areas it owned until 2014.

Russia must fight.

Bachmut: Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin expects that Ukraine will reconquer areas if Russia does not continue the fighting.

"I am absolutely sure that with the help of the NATO bloc, Ukraine will break through these 'red lines' and retake the territories that belonged to it until 2014," Prigozhin said in a statement published on

.

"There's no doubt about it," he added, saying that the war would then "start again."

Such a conflict could be “even more tragic and bloody than the first.

That is why we must fight for Russia here and now,” said the oligarch known as “Putin's cook”.

If its fighters “fall back”, Russia's front line would “crumble”.

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Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has videos of himself in the Ukraine war distributed.

© IMAGO/Konkord Company Press Service

Ukraine war: Prigozhin comments on Russia's strategy

Prigozhin's fighters were instrumental in Russian operations to capture the eastern Donetsk city of Bakhmut, which has been under heavy bombardment for months.

According to the

the Wagner mercenaries appear to have been preparing for a “turnaround” along with Russian forces.

The aim is to force the Kiev armed forces to give up defending the city.

The think tank relies on Russian sources.

Accordingly, the fighters of the Wagner group may have advanced through the east and north-east of Bakhmut.

According to the

news portal , this would mean that Russia would have deviated from the strategy of encircling the city.

Ukraine War: Russia's Strategy

As recently as Sunday, March 5, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that Russia had tried to "encircle" Bakhmut.

However, the armed forces of Ukraine could have repelled the attacks.

The British Ministry of Defense said on Saturday that Bachmut was under "increasingly strong pressure".

In addition, the supply routes in Ukraine would be increasingly restricted.

Kiev has sent elite units to support its fighters in the city, the ministry said.

Remaining residents of Bachmut were fleeing on foot,

reported on Saturday.

Before the Ukraine war, Bachmut had around 75,000 inhabitants.

The city's deputy mayor told the

on Saturday that "not a single building" in Bakhmut was untouched by the fighting.

(mse)

List of rubrics: © IMAGO/Konkord Company Press Service