Wagner’s decision to withdraw from Bakhmut on May 10 could be “a turning point” in the battle for the eastern Ukrainian city, a Ukrainian military spokesperson has told CNN.
“If they don’t change their logic and don’t manage to replenish, I think this may be considered a turning point in the battle for Bakhmut. This [Wagner] is the key force that fought for Bakhmut. For nine months, they have had a monopoly there most of the time,” said Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a Telegram post Friday that his fighters would withdraw from Bakhmut in five days’ time, having taken heavy casualties in the fight for the city. He laid the blame on Russia’s defense establishment for not providing the private military group with enough ammunition and called for the regular army to step in.
However, Cherevatyi said that Wagner’s “incredible losses” were down to its units “acting foolishly, launching constant human attacks” and that Prigozhin wanted to leave because Wagner was close to being destroyed in the fight for the embattled city.
“If Wagner’s losses continue to be as high as they are now – 100 or more people a day – and they can’t find a way to replenish their personnel … Wagner will be destroyed near Bakhmut,” Cherevatyi said, adding that the “vast majority” of the 137 Russian soldiers killed in the Bakhmut area over the past 24 hours had been Wagner fighters.
“That’s why Prigozhin wants to leave, or will try to leave, because if this dynamic continues, they have a matter of weeks,” he said.
Cherevatyi also claimed Prigozhin was “lying” about his fighters’ lack of ammunition.
“There is no shell famine,” he said.
“Over the last day alone, 520 rocket launcher attacks were made on our positions in the Bakhmut area, and there were six air strikes, so this is not true. I think he is looking for a reason to simply retreat from the battlefield, suffering huge losses, unable to perform any task, and unable to replenish his personnel.”
Wagner’s mercenaries have been spearheading Russia’s efforts to take Bakhmut. Cherevatyi said he expects the number of attacks against Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut to decrease if Wagner leaves because regular Russian forces would not be able to “waste personnel” as Wagner did.