The decision of the mercenary leader of the “Wagner” PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, to withdraw from Bakhmut on May 10 could be a “turning point” in the battle for the eastern Ukrainian city, a representative of the Ukrainian military said, according to CNN. At the same time, the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine notes that Russia aims to clear Bakhmut by “Victory Day” on May 9, so until then it can continue to charge mercenaries there.

• “If they don’t change their logic and can’t resupply, I think this could be a turning point in the battle for Bakhmut.
• He (Wagner) is a key force in the struggle for Bakhmut. For nine months, they were mostly monopolists there,” Serhiy Cherevaty, the spokesman for the eastern group of the ZSU, told CNN.

Regarding the shortage of ammunition cited by Prigozhin, the Ukrainian official said that Wagner’s “unbelievable losses” were due to the fact that his units “acted senselessly, conducting constant human attacks” and that Prigozhin wanted to withdraw because Wagner was coming. close to being destroyed in battle.

• “If the losses of “Wagner” will be the same as now – 100 or more people per day – and they will not find a way to replenish their personnel… “Wagner” will be destroyed near Bakhmut,” said a Ukrainian military officer. Adding that “the majority” of the 137 Russian soldiers who died in the Bakhmut district in the last day were Wagner fighters.

He also claimed that Prigozhin was “lying” about the lack of ammunition among his soldiers:

• “Only in the last day, there were 520 rocket attacks on our positions in the Bakhmut area and six airstrikes, so this is not true. I think he’s looking for a reason to just walk away from the battlefield, suffering huge losses and unable to complete any mission and unable to rebuild his headquarters.”

“The confrontation continues”

Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov believes that Prigozhin’s statements indicate that the long-running conflict with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov is not over, writes Reuters.

• “The confrontation continues,” he said.

Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine: “The Russians have set themselves the goal of taking control of Bakhmut by May 9”

But the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Hanna Malyar, believes that Russia will introduce mercenaries of the “Wagner” PMK to Bakhmut to try to capture the city on “Victory Day” on May 9. By the way, the leader of Wagner announced that he will withdraw from the battle for Bakhmut on May 10.

• “The Russians are prone to symbolism, and their key historical myth is May 9, and they even set a goal to take control of Bakhmut by that date,” Ukraine’s deputy defense minister said, according to Reuters.

Every year, Russia celebrates May 9 with a large military parade on Red Square presided over by Vladimir Putin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed preparations for the Victory Day parade on May 9 at a meeting at the Security Council on Friday, RIA Novosti reports, citing the Kremlin, Reuters reports. Moscow said the parade would go ahead as planned, despite its accusations that Ukraine tried to kill Putin in a drone strike over the Kremlin early Wednesday.

Wagner’s mercenaries led Russian attempts to conquer Bakhmut.

It will be recalled that on Friday, company leader Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared on camera next to dozens of corpses of his soldiers, criticizing the leadership of the Russian army more than ever for the fact that it lacks ammunition. Later, he announced that from May 10, “Wagner” would withdraw from the battle for Bakhmut “to lick its wounds.” Despite its dubious strategic military value, Bakhmut, which had a population of 70,000 before the war, acquired enormous symbolic importance during the large-scale invasion of Russia.