As reported by Ukraine, thousands of Russian soldiers have left their positions in Bakhmut, the Kremlin’s primary target during its unsuccessful winter onslaught.
Russian units in some areas of the town, according to Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, had withdrawn by up to two kilometres (1.2 miles) as a result of counterattacks.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the renowned mercenary group’s leader, claimed on Tuesday that a Russian battalion had fled, “pissing away” a large area of territory.
The oligarch has been a vociferous critic of the military top brass, saying his fighters have only been supplied 10% of the shells they need to seize control of the town.
His latest expletive-ridden rant appears to contain a thinly veiled – but explosive – reference to Vladimir Putin.
Without naming names, Prigozhin said a ‘happy grandfather’ was convinced that all was going well with Russia’s campaign.
He then added: ‘If he turns out to be right, God bless everyone. But what should the country do . . . if it turns out that this grandfather is a complete asshole?’
Prigozhin has previously poured scorn on Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff, but has avoided all personal criticism of Putin.
But the Russian president has often been dismissed as the ‘grandfather in the bunker’ by Kremlin critics, and opposition figure Olga Romanova remarked ‘there aren’t that many alternative’ targets.
Prigozhin’s Wagner units have led a months-long Russian assault on the eastern city – scene of the bloodiest ground combat in Europe since World War Two – suffering heavy losses.
And Ukrainian forces say the offensive is stalling.
In a statement, Ukraine’s Third Separate Assault Brigade said: ‘It’s official. Prigozhin’s report about the flight of Russia’s 72nd Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade from near Bakhmut and the “500 corpses” of Russians left behind is true.’
A Russian brigade is typically formed of several thousand troops.
In his nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy named the Third Brigade and noted its report ‘about the flight of Russia’s 72nd Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade from near Bakhmut’.
The Kremlin said it was in no doubt that Bakhmut ‘will be captured and will be kept under control’.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by the Tass news agency as saying: ‘The special military operation continues. This is a very difficult operation, and, of course, certain goals have been achieved in a year.
‘We managed to beat up the Ukrainian military machine quite a bit. This work will continue.’
He said progress had been slow because Russia is not ‘waging war’ in Ukraine.
‘Waging war is a completely different matter – it means complete destruction of infrastucture, it means complete destruction of cities,’ he said.
‘We are not doing this. We are trying to preserve infrastructure and preserve human lives.’
Peskov’s comments did not address the claims about the 72nd Separate Motor-rifle Brigade abandoning their positions.