Because so many troops have been lost in months of fighting, Russia’s Bakhmut offensive in eastern Ukraine has “largely stalled.”
According to the UK Ministry of Defense’s most recent intelligence assessment, the standstill “is probably primarily owing to the tremendous attrition of Russian forces,” although it also mentions that “Ukraine has also sustained considerable fatalities during its defense.”
According to the Russian Defense Ministry and the Wagner Group, both of which have sent troops to the area, the situation on the ground near Bakhmut “was probably made worse by tensions between them.”
After Wagner led troops into the Battle of Bakhmut and suffered terrible losses, the commander of his famed mercenary group was kept at bay by Russia’s military for several weeks.
This week, the head of Wagner took a particularly scathing stance against the Russian narrative of Ukraine, against claims that NATO is engaged in combat there, and against the issue of whether or not there are actually Nazis in Ukraine. Notwithstanding the paucity of evidence, the Kremlin has consistently defended its invasion of its neighbor by claiming that Kiev must be freed of neo-Nazis who pose a threat to Russian peace and security.
Parallel to that, it has emphasized more and more that the conflict is a fight for existence against NATO, which they contend is straining Russia.
According to a US baseline assessment by the War Research Institute, Prigozhin claimed that Moscow is engaged in combat “exclusively” with Ukrainians who are armed with NATO-supplied equipment and a few “Russophobic” mercenaries who voluntarily support Ukraine. However, NATO itself is not involved in the conflict.
