Ukraine, Pakhmut | However, Chief Wagner will continue to fight in Bakhmut

Chief Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin turned around and said that he would continue the Games in Bakhmut. Ukraine believes his threats to withdraw its forces from the city were an attempt to deflect attention from the heavy losses suffered by his forces.

The head of the Russian mercenary group posted a message on Telegram on Sunday, reversing the signals he had given in recent days. He now says that he was promised as much arms and ammunition as he needed to continue the attack on Bakhmut.

On Friday, Prigozhin criticized the Russian military leadership, which he accused of not providing enough weapons and ammunition for Wagner. He also showed what were supposed to be dead mercenaries lying in lines, saying that the lack of arms and ammunition had caused them to suffer death.

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A new message came on Saturday, in which Prigozhin said he would hand over the group’s sites in Bakhmut to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

Kadyrov then wrote in Telegram that he was ready to go to Bakhmut and his soldiers were just waiting for orders.

Transfer maneuver

A spokesman for Ukraine’s Eastern Command, Serhiy Chervaty, said that Russian forces had enough ammunition and that Prigozhin’s complaints were an attempt to distract from the heavy losses his forces suffered at Bakhmut.

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The threats and complaints directed at Prigozhin also reflect an ongoing power struggle and rivalry between Russia’s military leaders.

Prigozhin’s mercenaries in Wagner’s group have been leading the assault on Bakhmut since last summer, but they have not yet managed to take full control of the city. Ukrainian forces still have a foothold in parts of the city.

The deadliest yet

The fighting for Bakhmut was the bloodiest and most extensive yet of the war, although many military analysts believe the city had little strategic value.

Despite the heavy losses, the Ukrainians are not yet going to retreat, perhaps because the Russian losses are much greater and at the expense of the Russian forces before the expected Ukrainian offensive.

The city itself, which had a pre-war population of 70,000, is now little more than a pile of rubble.

Ukraine has not yet launched its expected spring offensive to retake as much of the Russian-occupied parts of the country as possible. But the increasing number of drone attacks and acts of sabotage in recent days against oil and railway depots in Russia and the Russian-occupied regions are most likely preparations for such an attack.

Drones against Sevastopol

The Ministry of Defense in Moscow said that Russian forces shot down 22 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea on Sunday night, according to the Russian News Agency.

Ukraine is accused, among other things, of sending several drones against Sevastopol in occupied Crimea, where Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is stationed.

The governor of the Russian city of Belgorod said on Telegram that Ukrainian artillery shelling destroyed a gas pipeline and power lines in the area on Sunday night.

On the other hand, Ukrainian rulers reported Russian missile attacks, among others, on Kharkiv and Mykolaiv during the night.

In Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv province, at least five people were injured when a missile hit a parking garage in the town of Balaklia, according to Governor Oleh Sengyhopov.

Governor Vitaly Kim in Mykolaiv, south, wrote on social media that a building and property belonging to a company were destroyed by Russian cruise missiles.