Wagner forces begin withdrawing from Ukraine’s Bakhmut

Kathmandu: Mercenary forces of Wagner group have begun withdrawing from the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, following the claims of victory by the group.

The head of the Wagner mercenary group said on Thursday that his troops had started transferring their positions in the flashpoint city of Bakhmut to the Russian military.

‘We are withdrawing units from Bakhmut today,’ Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video released on social media, ‘We are handing over positions to the military, ammunition and everything.’

His announcement comes days after Moscow’s military said it had deployed jets and artillery on Russian soil against a ‘sabotage’ group that crossed from Ukraine.

The battle for Bakhmut has raged for nearly one year, levelling the city and decimating waves of Wagner recruits who have led Russia’s assault on the industrial hub.

Earlier on Wednesday, Prigozhin informed that 20,000 fighters of the group were killed in the battle for control of the city. According to him, about 50,000 prisoners were recruited to fight with Wagner in Russia’s war in Ukraine and that about 20 percent of them had been killed.

A similar number of his contract soldiers had also perished in the battle for the city, he told Russian political strategist Konstantin Dolgov in a video interview posted on his Telegram channel on Wednesday.