Russian Defence Ministry explains their retreat north of Bakhmut, Wagner Group expects encirclement
The Russian Ministry of Defence has admitted their retreat from positions and to north of Bakhmut, which allows Ukrainian troops to control the road to Chasiv Yar.
Source: Igor Konashenkov, the representative of the Ministry of Defence of Russia, during a briefing on 12 May; Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner private military company.
Details: Konashenkov, reporting on the successes of the Russian army at the front, denied the information about the breakthrough of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Bakhmut, but admitted that the units had taken new frontiers.
Quote from Konashenkov: "On the Soledar tactical front yesterday, the enemy [Ukraine – ed.] carried out offensive actions along the entire line of combat of the parties with a length of more than 95 kilometres.
Units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out 26 attacks, which involved more than a thousand servicemen, up to 40 tanks, as well as other military and special equipment. All attacks by units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were repelled, no breakthroughs in the defence of Russian troops were allowed.
On the Maloirynivka front, in order to increase the stability of the defence, units of the southern group of Russian troops occupied the frontier, considering the favourable conditions of the Berkhivka Reservoir."
Quote from Prigozhin: "The entire operation from the west to Bakhmut lasted from 8 October (2022), seven months. During this time, we took, in particular, the Berkhivka Reservoir, the settlement of Berkhivka and moved along the Bakhmut-Slavinsk road in the direction of Slavinsk. Now the reverse process is happening.
After we transferred the flanks, there wasn’t a tactical retreat. Comrade Konashenkov, to put it mildly, fibbed a little. The [Russian] Ministry of Defence simply fled from the flanks... The enemy will approach Bakhmut and will be at a distance of 500 metres from Bakhmut, occupying all tactical heights."
Details: According to Prigozhin, only on 12 May, Russian servicemen left a territory of five square kilometres – and now the Ukrainians have occupied tactical heights from which Bakhmut can be seen "from a bird’s eye view", and they will also be able to use the Chasiv Yar-Bakhmut road, because it was "completely liberated".
Ukrainian military taking control of Berkhivka will mean "gradual encirclement of Bakhmut" for the Russians, Prigozhin said.
According to the founder of Wagner Group, his mercenaries continue to storm Bakhmut, but cannot cover the flanks of the Russian regular army.
Prigozhin said that 20 high-rise buildings remain to be captured in Bakhmut, but taking the city under complete control would not give the Russian Federation anything, since "the flanks are collapsing, the front is collapsing".
Prigozhin blames the possible loss of Bakhmut on the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation and the General Staff, accuses them of fleeing, and justifies [the failures of] Wagner Group with the lack of ammunition.
The Deep State map shows that the Defence Forces of Ukraine have advanced Russians in several places north of Bakhmut, in particular, in the area of the Berkhivka Reservoir.
Previously:
- On 12 May, Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the East Grouping of Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said there were signs of exhaustion on the Russian forces on the Bakhmut front.
- Andrii Yusov, spokesman for Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence, said that the disagreements between Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russian military command – Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu and Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff Chief Valery Gerasimov – were caused by the fear of imminent defeat and the search for a scapegoat.
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