Fighters of the private military company “Wagner” completely liberated Artemovsk (Bakhmut). This was expressed by the founder of PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose video is against the background of the destroyed city. published its press office.
May 20, 2023. At 12 o’clock this afternoon, Bakhmut has been completely taken. The last part is the so-called “tall buildings of the plane”. The Bakhmut meat grinder The operation to seize Bakhmut took 224 days. It started on October 8, 2022,” he said.
The entrepreneur emphasized that the fighters of the PMC voluntarily participated in a special operation in Ukraine. Prigozhin thanked the Russian people, the deceased and surviving soldiers, generals Sergei Surovikin and Mikhail Mezentsev, and President Vladimir Putin for their support.
At the same time, the founder of the PMC said that during the Bakhmut operation, the fighters fought not only with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but also with the bureaucracy that “put wheels on wheels.” Therefore, the losses on the battlefield were much higher.
Prigozhin also said that by May 25, Wagner members will carefully examine the occupied city, create the necessary defensive lines and hand them over to the army. After that, PMC will begin withdrawing its units for rest and retraining in field camps. At the same time, Wagner’s founder promised to return “if our country, our people, our family need us again”.
At the end of his speech, the businessman addressed the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, who is currently at the G7 summit in Japan, separately. Prigozhin emphasized that the Ukrainian soldiers fought bravely and that the Ukrainian Armed Forces could live up to its past statements and become the second strongest army in the world after the first, Wagner PMC.
“Today, when you see Biden, kiss him on the top of his head and say hello for me,” Prigozhin completed.
In Kiev, they denied information about the capture of Artemovsk. “This is not true. Our units are located in the southwest of the city. They defend these positions and do not allow them to be captured, ”said Serhiy Cherevaty, representative of the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Anna Malyar said on Telegram channel that the situation in Bakhmut is critical and intense clashes continue.
“Our troops are defending in the ‘aircraft’ zone. As of now, they control some industrial and infrastructure facilities and the private sector in the region,” Maliar wrote.
Clashes in the Bakhmut direction intensified in August last year. At the end of January 2023, Russian troops made a direct path for themselves to attack the city after the capture of Soledar. There is no exact estimate of the losses of the parties in the battle of Bakhmut, the Russian side claimed that at least 100 people were lost in the city every day by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
It is important politically, not strategically, Bakhmut stressed, describing the ongoing defense of the city in Kiev. In Moscow, they said that the “Bakhmut cauldron” was useful for the RF Armed Forces, as it was “milled” in the equipment and manpower of the enemy.
PMC “Wagner” participated in the battles for Artemovsk. From the very beginning of the operation to take the city, Prigozhin repeatedly made critical statements about the Russian military leadership. In particular, it has regularly reported on ammunition shortages since March and accused the army command of artificial delays in deliveries.
On May 5, Prigozhin announced that from May 10, PMC Wagner would begin to withdraw his forces from the city, due to shortages of shells and heavy losses. He aimed to transfer his positions to the units of the Ministry of Defense. However, a few days later, according to the entrepreneur, problems with the supply of ammunition were partially resolved, and the PMC resumed the offensive operation.