Head of the Russian Wagner private military company Evgeny Prigozhin said his troops started withdrawing from Bakhmut. They will transfer the positions to Russian regular forces by 1 June.
“The main part of the Wagner troops will be relocated to the rear. We transfer our positions to the military,” Prigozhin said in a video released on the morning of 25 May 2023, showing how his troops are allegedly preparing to withdraw to the rear.
Wagner PMC was the main Russian force involved in the assaults on the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut since December 2022. Previously, Prigozhin claimed his troops had fully occupied Bakhmut, a Ukrainian city in the Donetsk oblast populated by 70,000 before the war.
In turn, Ukrainian officials admitted that the situation is “difficult,” but they still control a small part of the city while conducting counterattacks on its flanks.
