2023-05-27 23:07:03
While Kiev is still denying taking Bakhmut, Russia is already handing out medals to fighters. Wagner mercenaries continue to advance on the Autobahn.
Update from May 23, 12:01 p.m: After the massive gains in territory in the Battle of Bakhmut, Russia’s troops in the Ukraine war are apparently advancing further. The attackers should primarily use the existing infrastructure. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on Tuesday (May 23) that mercenaries from the Wagner group have seized the TO504 highway in the south-west of the city. Russian flags on buildings in the west could also indicate the conquest of the rest of the city, it said. Also on the front west of the city of Donetsk, Russian units are said to have advanced on an expressway.
In the past few days, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigoschin had already announced victory in Bakhmut several times. Nevertheless, fighting had flared up again and again in some parts of the city. According to him, the mercenary force intends to withdraw in the coming days and hand over control of the destroyed city to the Russian army. Nevertheless, the situation in the region remains confusing.
Battle of Bakhmut decided: Moscow distributes medals – but what is the use of victory?
First report from May 22, 3:46 p.m: Kiev/Moscow – The battle for Bakhmut has been puzzling experts for months, and the alleged capture by Wagner mercenaries and Russian soldiers hasn’t changed that. While Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin announces that his mercenaries will be withdrawn from the city after months of costly fighting, Kiev continues to maintain that the last defenders remain in the city.
For months, observers and war experts have maintained their assessment that Bachmut does not play a particularly important role for either of the two warring parties in the Ukraine war – except perhaps morally. Even though the Russian media is now celebrating the conquest of the city in eastern Ukraine and Prigozhin’s announcement as a “historic moment”: Taking the city, in which, according to media reports, Ukrainian soldiers probably only remain in a few outlying districts, has hardly any tactical advantages.
Losses in Bachmut: Biden speaks of 100,000 lost soldiers for Russia
In clear contrast to this assessment are the casualty figures from the Battle of Bakhmut, which according to Western reports should be over 100,000 on the Russian side alone. US President Joe Biden spoke at the weekend of so many losses on the Russian side – possibly fallen and injured soldiers. Secret services had repeatedly accused the Russian military leadership and Wagner boss Prigozchin of using their fighters in Bakhmut as “cannon fodder”.
For Prigozhin himself, the news sounds much more positive. According to a report by the news agency, the Wagner boss had AFP announced in a Telegram voice message over the weekend that it would withdraw its troops from “Artemovsk” in May. The outdated city name goes back to the period between 1924 and 2016, when Bakhmut was named after a Soviet revolutionary. Before the handover to Russian troops, the private army set up “defense lines”; should the army not be able to provide enough personnel for the defense, Wagner would be armed with “thousands of generals”, the billionaire businessman announced.
Battle of Bakhmut: Putin awards medals to “outstanding fighters”
As became known over the weekend, Russia’s ruler Vladimir Putin has already announced that he intends to distribute “state awards” to the “outstanding fighters” who captured Bakhmut. Like the news magazine Focus reported, the first pictures appeared in the social media at the weekend, some of which showed the awards ceremony in Bachmut itself.
While the Wagner boss celebrates the withdrawal of his people as a success, critical voices interpret the situation as an admission of the weakness of Prigozhin’s mercenary force. Instead of launching further attacks on neighboring eastern Ukrainian areas from Bakhmut, the weakened fighters are withdrawing to the already occupied hinterland, it is said loudly time online among war experts. Many see the battle more as a sign of Ukraine’s strength than the Russian attack. In addition, the Ukrainian military is already reporting on the first areas liberated in the outskirts of the city, which have long since been conquered by Russia. (of with afp/dpa)
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