Wagner Group leader now claims Russians were not that keen on taking Bakhmut

Ahead of their previously announced withdrawal from the city of Bakhmut after many months of trying to capture it, Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group fighters, has said that the city has no strategic significance for the Russian Federation, and claimed that capturing it was not the main goal of "Operation Bakhmut Meat-grinder".

Source: Prigozhin’s comment, shared by his press service 

Quote: "It should be noted that Operation Bakhmut Meat-grinder was mainly designed not to capture the settlement of Bakhmut, but to grind down the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and provide respite for the Russian army to restore combat capability. The Bakhmut meat grinder has accomplished its task in full."

Details: Prigozhin said that operational space has now been opened up in the direction of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, and "the remaining 2.42 square kilometres is of no importance for the operational space".

"The settlement of Bakhmut has no strategic importance for further advancement to the west. What is of strategic importance for the advancement of the Russian army is capturing the settlements of Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, Druzhkivka and Konstantynivka (the  Donbas Ring), to the west of which flat territories open up where the Armed Forces of Ukraine will find it difficult to maintain defence in the event of an offensive by the superior forces of the Russian army," he said.

According to Prigozhin, on 8 October 2022, he and General Sergey Surovikin of the Russian Armed Forces took the decision to launch Operation Bakhmut Meat-grinder, "an assault on the settlement of Bakhmut aimed at forcing Volodymyr Zelenskyy to deploy as many forces as possible to hold Bakhmut".

"The purpose of Operation Bakhmut Meat-grinder was to enable units of the Russian army to occupy advantageous lines of defence, to mobilise, re-equip and train personnel, and increase their combat potential," he says in justification.

The mercenary leader claims that the joint "operation" with Surovikin was supposed to last for six months, until 8 April 2023.

Prigozhin also said that after leaving Bakhmut, the Wagner Group "will go to training camps to restore combat capability and retrain units, and will stay there until the threat to Russia and Russian citizens disappears as part of this military operation".

Background: 

• On 5 May, in a letter to the leadership of the Russian Defence Ministry, Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin announced that starting from 10 May, he would be withdrawing Wagner mercenaries from Bakhmut. He says the reason for the move is that the Russian Defence Ministry does not give his fighters sufficient ammunition, and he does not want his people to be "doomed to a senseless death" because of this.
• The Armed Forces of Ukraine are sceptical about Prigozhin's claim that the fighters will supposedly start to leave Bakhmut on 10 May.
• Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov later said that he was prepared to help with the occupation of Bakhmut.
• On 6 May, Prigozhin announced that he would transfer the positions of his militants in Bakhmut to Kadyrov's soldiers.

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