The founder of the Russian mercenary organization “Wagner” said today that he would like his people and the regular Russian army to occupy the city of Bakhmut, in Eastern Ukrainebecause it has “underground cities” where soldiers and tanks can be hidden.

The five-month shelling of the city of Bakhmut by Russian forces has worried Western military analysts, who say the heavy casualties on the Russian side and the fact that the Ukrainians have built retreat lines there means any Russian victory – if there is one – will be pyrrhic.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner, whose people take part in the battle for Bakhmut, spoke in detail today why he considers it important to capture the city.

“The icing on the cake is the Solentar and Bakhmut mining system, which is actually a network of underground cities. Not only is it (able to accommodate) a large group of people at a depth of 80-100 meters, but tanks and infantry fighting vehicles can be moved there, ”he said. He added that stockpiles of weapons have been stored in these underground complexes since the Second World War.

Prigozhin was referring to the large salt mine and other mines in the area, which have more than 100 kilometers of tunnels and a huge underground hall, which in the past, in peacetime, even held football matches and classical music concerts.

A White House spokesman said Thursday that Washington believed Prigozhin wanted to control the region’s mines for commercial purposes. However, he did not mention their possible military application.

Prigozhin, who is under Western sanctions, also mentioned other advantages of taking Bakhmut, which he called a “serious logistics center” with unique defensive fortifications.

The comments were made on Telegram as gunfire erupted in the nearly deserted streets of Bakhmut this morning despite Russia’s unilateral Christmas truce. Another Telegram account associated with Wagner says that Russia has seized a strategically important settlement on the outskirts of Bakhmut, which Moscow calls Artemovsk.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the occupation of the settlement. A spokesman for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said the town of Solentar, which is near Bakhmut and has a salt mine there, is still under Ukrainian control despite massive Russian attacks.

^{Source: APE-MEB, Reuters}