Playing down: “Could be a strategic retreat"

Ukraine  

 

Wagner group: Take control of Bachmut 

Ukraine strikes back: The fighting continues  

 

Of: 

 

Nelly Kronstrand, 

 

Emil Forsberg 

 

Published: Today 15.15  

 

Updated: Today 18.35  

 

NEWS  

 

The Wagner Group has taken control of the Ukrainian town of Bachmut.  

 

Leader Yevgeny Prigozhin claims this in a video on Telegram.  

 

But the Ukrainian military refutes the claim. 

 

- The fighting continues in Bachmut, a spokesperson told Reuters.  

 

The Wagner Group has taken control of the Ukrainian town of Bachmut. The leader of the Russian group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claims that, reports AFP.   

 

- Today, May 20, around 12 o'clock, we had taken all of Bachmut, says Prigozhin in a video published in Telegram.  

A picture from the battles near Bachmut. Photo: LIBKOS/AP  

 

Furthermore, he states that the group plans to hand over the city to the Russian military by May 25 at the latest.

  

In the video, Prigozhin stands with soldiers from the Wagner group at what is believed to be the train station in Bachmut. Photo: Telegram  

 

A spokesman for the military in eastern Ukraine denies reports that the city is under Russian control. 

 

 - The fighting continues in Bachmut, says the spokesperson according to Reuters.  

 

Lieutenant Colonel Johan Huovinen at the Norwegian Defense Academy is also skeptical of the veracity of Prigozhin's story. However, he does not rule out that it could be a strategic retreat.  

 

- But it is also not improbable that it is actually true. My colleagues at the Defense Academy have said that Wagner has advanced into the city center itself and that may be what has happened, he tells TT.

 

Johan Huovinen, Defense University. Photo: Rasmus Walldén  

 

Pincer maneuver  

 

Huovinen says that the strategic importance of Bakhmut is not very great, but that the Ukrainian side still does not want to admit that it has withdrawn from the city.  

 

Especially not before a possible spring offensive as it could be used in the ongoing propaganda war.  

 

Ukraine recently stated that it has retaken ground in Bakhmut, something which, according to the defense expert, could mean that it is trying to flank the city before a counter-offensive. 

 

- In the long term, maybe Ukraine could create a pincer maneuver, that's probably what you hope for, he tells TT.