Bakhmut direction is tough because of Wagner PMC “competition” with regular Russian army – Ukrainian servicewoman

One of the toughest fightings of Russo-Ukrainian war are currently ongoing in the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast. Servicewoman of one of the National Guard brigades Khrystyna Kudriava, who is currently working in the Bakhmut direction, explains that "The story with Bakhmut is purely the story of the Wagner PMC, which decided to prove to the Russian authorities that it has better, higher-quality training than the regular Russian army. Like, they [Russian regular army] retreated there from Kherson, but we are holding on here."

"A captured Wagnerian told us: you destroyed 50 people today, exactly 50 were brought to replace them by the evening. If you destroy 100 – they [Russian military command] will bring 100. They are trying to keep exactly 900 people in the assault squad. They are told: 'People are not a problem'," says Petro Kuzyk.

"The Wagnerites try to approach our positions as close as possible and only then open fire. I won't say that this is a worthy opponent – because we just saw today how they stole a goat in one of the yards - but it is really difficult to deal with him", sums up Khrystyna Kudryava. Capture of Bakhmut would allow Russia to place about two divisions of its army in the city during the frosts, instead of keeping them in the fields.