Russia’s main mercenary group announced plans to withdraw from the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, but Ukraine said the fighters were reinforcing positions to try to seize it before Russia marks World War Two Victory Day next week.
, which Russia sees as a stepping stone to other cities in Ukraine’s Donbas region still beyond its control, has been the most intense of the conflict, costing thousands of lives on both sides in months of grinding warfare.Ukrainian troops have been pushed back in recent weeks but have clung on in the city to inflict as many Russian losses as possible ahead of Kyiv’s planned big push against the invading forces along the 1000 kilometre front line.
Head of Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin reads his statement standing in front of his troops in an unknown location.It was not clear whether Prigozhin, who often makes impulsive comments, would proceed with the withdrawal if his men got more ammunition or if the dispute might be a smokescreen.from along the front line to Bakhmut to capture it by Victory Day.
The Russian-installed governor of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, said he had ordered the evacuation of villages close to the front line with Ukrainian forces there, saying that Ukrainian shelling had intensified in recent days.
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