The head of Wagner’s Russian mercenary company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced on Thursday that his forces had begun withdrawing from the devastated city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine after it was first taken.

In a video posted on Thursday, Prigozhin, in an unusually quiet voice for a military leader, announced the start of the process of mercenaries leaving the company he founded and manages.

Last Saturday, a Russian military businessman once again announced the capture of Bakhmut, a city razed to the ground after months of fighting in the west of the Donetsk region, in the Donbass, Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities continue to deny that this is the case, stressing that they control a significant portion of the city and are in a position to launch a counterattack to retake the urban fabric critical to their control of the area.

If Ukraine nevertheless launches a counter-offensive in Bakhmut, then it will be opposed only by the regular Russian army, parts of which will now gradually occupy the positions of Wagner mercenaries in the city, as Mr. Prigozhin himself announced in his message on Thursday.

Source: Reuters.