War in Ukraine: Wagner Group claims to have lost more than 20,000 men at Bakhmut and contradicts Russia

The owner of Russian private military contractor Wagner Group said his force lost more than 20,000 fighters in the long battle for Bakhmut and about 20 percent of the 50,000 Russian prisoners recruited to fight in the past 15 months died in that city in the south eastern Ukraine.

The figure contrasts with Moscow’s claim that it lost just over 6,000 soldiers. in the war and surpasses 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 the nine-month battle for Bakhmut alone claimed the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, including some inmates who reportedly received little training before being sent to the front lines.

The goal of the Russian invasion, the “demilitarization” of Ukraine, has achieved the opposite as Kiev’s military has been bolstered by the supply of weapons and training from its Western allies, Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an interview published Tuesday evening with Konstantin Dolgov, a pro-Kremlin political strategist.

Prigozhin also noted that Kremlin forces killed civilians during the war, which Moscow has repeatedly and forcefully denied.

A millionaire, enigmatic and controversial leader

The wealthy businessman, whose relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin dates back several years and is known for his bravado – often laced with obscenity – which he has carried out in the past unverifiable claims, some of which were later retracted.

Earlier this month, his spokespeople released a video of him screaming, cursing and pointing at about 30 uniformed bodies lying on the ground, saying they were Wagner Group fighters who had died that day.

Furthermore, he claimed that the Russian Defense Ministry had spared his men’s ammunition and threatened to abandon the battle for Bakhmut.

In Tuesday’s interview, he also said it was possible that, due to continued Western support, the expected Kiev counter-offensive in the coming weeks could drive Russian troops out of southern and eastern Ukraine, as well as the annexed Crimean peninsula. .

“A worst-case scenario: Ukrainians have received missiles, they are preparing troops, of course they will continue their offensive, they will try to fight back,” 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 must prepare for a tough war, ”she warned.

fights

The Ukrainian General Staff said on Wednesday that “heavy fighting” continued inside Bakhmut, days after Russia said it had completely taken the devastated city.

Bakhmut is located in Donetsk province, one of four illegally annexed by the Kremlin last fall.

The head of Ukraine’s ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Kiev troops were “continuing their defensive operation” in Bakhmut, and had achieved unspecified “successes” on the outskirts of the city, but did not provide further details.

Ukrainian authorities have insisted the battle for Bakhmut is not over.

Separately, Russian forces shot down “large numbers” of drones in the southern province of Belgorod, a local official said on Wednesday, a day after Moscow announced its forces had cracked down on a cross-border raid into the region from Ukraine.

The drones were intercepted overnight over the province, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov explained in a Telegram post. There were no casualties, but unspecified administrative buildings, residential buildings and cars were damaged.

Ukrainian authorities did not make immediate comments.

Russia said Tuesday it had thwarted one of the most serious cross-border attacks since the start of the war, and the defense ministry said more than 70 attackers were killed in the battle of Belgorod, which lasted about 24 hours. Russian casualties were not mentioned.

Local soldiers, airstrikes and artillery defeated the assailants, ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

Twelve local civilians were injured 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 away from the front line, were unclear.

Moscow blamed Ukrainian military saboteurs for the raid that began on Monday. Kiev described the incident as an uprising by Russian partisans against the Kremlin. Impossible to compare the two versions to clarify who was behind the attack or identify the motivations.

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 stop them have taken so long.

Belgorod province, like nearby Bryansk and other border areas, has seen occasional incidents related to the war, which started after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Source: AP