OUR Russia replaces paramilitary organization units Wagner with regular troops on the outskirts Bahamutbut the fighters of the group remain inside the affected city, its deputy defense minister said today UkrainianHana Maliar.

Her comments appear to corroborate, at least in part, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin’s claim that his organization has begun withdrawing its forces from Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and is handing over their positions to the Russian regular army.

“On the outskirts of Bahamut, the enemy replaced Wagner’s units with regular army forces. Wagner fighters remain in the city itself,” Mallyar wrote on the Telegram app.

Prigozhin said in a video that the withdrawal of his units began early this morning, and the transfer of Wagner’s positions will last until June 1.

Serhiy Tserevatiy, a spokesman for the Eastern Military Command of Ukraine, said that Russian shelling in the region has decreased over the past three days, and there have been two military clashes in the past 24 days, although shelling continues.

“Of course, we can point to a decrease in attacks, and perhaps this is due to their regrouping. It is clear that we have inflicted heavy losses, and they need it (to regroup),” he said.

Malyar said Russia is also reinforcing its positions on the front line in Bakhmut and shelling Ukrainian forces in an attempt to stop Ukrainian advances north and south of the city.

Prigozhin announced the capture of Bakhmut last week, after the longest and bloodiest battle of the war.

^{Source: APE-MEB, Reuters}