The owner of Russian private military contractor Wagner Group says his force has lost more than 20,000 fighters in the protracted battle for Bakhmut, and that about 20 percent of the 50,000 Russian prisoners recruited to fight in the past 15 months have died in the eastern Ukrainian city.
The figure contrasts with Moscow's claim that it lost just over 6,000 troops in the war and exceeds the official estimate of 15,000 Soviet casualties in the 1979-1989 war in Afghanistan. Ukraine has not said how many of its soldiers have died since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022.
Analysts believe that the nine-month battle for Bakhmut alone has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, including inmates who reportedly received little training before being sent to the front.
The goal of the Russian invasion, to "demilitarize" Ukraine, has achieved the opposite as Kiev's army has been strengthened by supplying weapons and training its Western allies, Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an interview published late Tuesday with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist.
Soldiers flying the Russian flag in Bakhmut on Saturday after proclaiming they had taken control of the city after months of fighting. Photo: AP
Prigozhin also noted that Kremlin forces have killed civilians during the war, something Moscow has repeatedly and forcefully denied.
A millionaire, enigmatic and controversial leader
The wealthy businessman, whose relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin goes back several years and who is known for his bluster — often peppered with obscenities — has made unverifiable claims in the past, some of which he later retracted.
Earlier this month, his spokesmen released a video of him shouting, cursing and pointing to about 30 uniformed bodies lying on the ground, saying they were Wagner Group fighters who had died earlier in the day.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner. Photo: AP
He further claimed that the Russian Defense Ministry had spared ammunition to his men and threatened to abandon the battle for Bakhmut.
In Tuesday's interview, he also said it was possible that, because of continued Western backing, Kiev's expected counteroffensive in the coming weeks could drive Russian troops out of southern and eastern Ukraine, as well as the annexed Crimean peninsula.
"A pessimistic scenario: the Ukrainians have received missiles, they prepare troops, of course they will continue their offensive, they will try to counterattack," he said.
"They will attack Crimea, they will try to blow up the Crimean bridge (to the Russian mainland), they will cut (our) supply lines. Therefore, we have to prepare for a tough war," he warned.
Fighting
Ukraine's General Staff reported Wednesday that "intense fighting" was continuing inside Bakhmut, days after Russia said it had taken the devastated city completely.
Bakhmut is in Donetsk province, one of four illegally annexed by the Kremlin last fall.
Ukrainian ground forces chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said Kiev troops were "continuing their defensive operation" in Bakhmut, and have achieved unspecified "successes" on the outskirts of the city, but offered no further details.
Ukrainian authorities have insisted that the battle for Bakhmut is not over.
Separately, Russian forces shot down "a large number" of drones in the southern province of Belgorod, a local official said Wednesday, a day after Moscow announced its forces crushed a cross-border incursion into the region from Ukraine.
The drones were intercepted over the province overnight, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a Telegram post. There were no casualties, but unspecified administrative buildings, residential buildings and cars were damaged.
Ukrainian soldiers fire near Bakhmut in mid-May. Photo: AP
Ukrainian authorities had no immediate comment.
Russia said Tuesday it thwarted one of the most serious cross-border attacks since the war began, with the Defense Ministry saying more than 70 attackers were killed in the battle in Belgorod, which lasted about 24 hours. No mention was made of Russian casualties.
Local soldiers, air and artillery strikes defeated the attackers, ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.
Twelve local civilians were wounded in the offensive, according to authorities, and an elderly woman died during an evacuation.
Details of the incident in the rural province, which is about 80 kilometers north of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and far from the front line, were unclear.
Moscow blamed the raid that began Monday on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kiev described the incident as a revolt by Russian partisans against the Kremlin. It was impossible to contrast the two versions to clarify who was behind the attack or identify its motives.
The region is a Russian military logistics hub and hosts fuel and ammunition depots. Moscow officials declined to comment on the number of attackers or why efforts to curb them took so long.
Belgorod province, like neighboring Bryansk and other border areas, has seen occasional incidents related to the war, which began after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Source: AP
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