The head of Wagner’s private military group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Sunday that his forces would leave the front line in eastern Ukraine on May 25 after “capturing all the territories they pledged to capture, until to the last square centimeter.”
Prigozhin said he will hand over his charges to the Russian Ministry of Defense after Wagner’s forces leave.
There was no immediate public response from the defense ministry.
“We, as i said yesterdaywe are handing over our charges to the (Russian) Ministry of Defense and on the 25th we are leaving the combat zone,” Wagner’s chief said in an audio message on his Press Service Telegram page. “Therefore , all tasks that will continue. to carry out are in charge of the brave units of the Ministry of Defense, and we go out into the field fields.”
“As of June 1, not a single fighter from Wagner PMC will be at the helm until we go through reorganization, equipping and training,” Prigozhin added.
He has also rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s insistence that the city of Bakhmut is not fully occupied by Russia as of Sunday.
“There is not a single Ukrainian soldier in Bakhmut,” Wagner’s boss claimed. “And that’s why we stopped taking more prisoners of war.”
Keep in mind: Prigozhin has previously made brazen or misleading statements about the war and the role of his mercenaries in it, and has occasionally backtracked. He is also known to speak sarcastically.
More about Bakhmut: Prigozhin’s announcement comes a day after Russia declared victory in the long-held eastern city. The mercenary group says it has seized full control of the city after months of fighting led by Prigozhin’s forces.
Meanwhile, Ukraine claims it holds a small area in the western part of the city and that its progress in the areas surrounding the city has left it in a strong position.
Read more about claims and counterclaims at Bakhmut here.
