Moscow (BLAZETRENDS).- The head of the Wagner Group mercenary company, Yevgueni Prigozhin, announced today the beginning of the withdrawal of his units from the city of Bakhmut and the transfer of their positions to the troops of the Russian Army.
“We withdrew very carefully,” Prigozhin said in a video posted on his Telegram channel.
On the 21st, when announcing the total capture of Bakhmut after almost ten months of fighting, the leader of the Wagnerites declared that his troops, after completing their mission, would withdraw as of today to training camps in rear areas .
“We transferred the positions to the military, ammunition and even food rations,” he announced.
He added, ironically, that he leaves two Wagnerites in case the military needs help to defend their positions.
“Before June 1 we will all meet, we will rest, prepare and then we will receive another mission,” Prigozhin told the crew of a tank.
On the eve of the start of the Wagnerite withdrawal, Prigozhin acknowledged that some 10,000 Russian convicts recruited by his group had died in the battle for control of Bakhmut.
In an interview with a pro-government political scientist, Konstantin Dolgov, he admitted to having enlisted some 50,000 men in Russian prisons.
Prigozhin said he had lost a total of 15,000-16,000 men in that city in eastern Ukraine.
The leader of the mercenaries estimated the deaths on the Ukrainian side at 50,000-70,000, while the United States estimated Russian losses in the Battle of Bakhmut at almost 100,000.