Ukraine has driven Russia’s military back from some positions around Bakhmut, according to commanders on both sides, in a small but potentially significant counterattack after months on the backfoot in a brutal battle that has become the focal point of the Kremlin’s war.
Ukraine’s military said Wednesday it had routed a Russian infantry unit and forced them to retreat from crucial ground around the eastern city. The claims were supported by the furious account of the mercenary chief whose fighters have led Russia’s push for a symbolic victory there, and who has blamed Moscow’s defense chiefs for the setbacks.
Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the Russian army’s losses — which he claimed had left the flanks of his fighters leading the central assault on the city exposed — pointed to the beginnings of a broader Ukrainian counteroffensive.
But President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated otherwise, suggesting his troops needed more time before launching their anticipated spring attack even as Britain sent new long-range missiles that could allow Kyiv to strike deeper inside Russian-held territory.
Counterattacks but not yet a counteroffensive?
Ukrainian forces had been “unfortunately, partially successful” and were approaching Bakhmut from the flanks, Prigozhin said Thursday on Telegram.
Earlier this week, he accused the Russian army’s 72nd Brigade of having “pissed away” key ground, fleeing an area where he said he had lost around 500 men.
“They just took off and ran the hell out of there.” he said in a video posted on Telegram Tuesday.
Prigozhin has been locked in a bitter feud with the Kremlin’s top brass, threatening to abandon the battle after accusing them of depriving his fighters of ammunition.
His claims are often unsupported by evidence and could not be verified by NBC News, but were given added weight by Western military analysts and Ukrainian officials. Russia’s military has not commented, with the Kremlin saying Thursday that it had “no doubt” Bakhmut “will be taken, and then it will be held.”
Ukrainian forces conducted “effective counterattacks” in Bakhmut, Ground Forces commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said Wednesday in a Telegram post.
“The enemy could not repulse the attacks of the Ukrainian defenders and retreated to a distance of up to 2 kilometers (1.24 miles),” he said.
Wagner mercenaries were being replaced by “less well-prepared units” of the regular Russian army, he said.
In an earlier 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.”
“Victory Day was a success,” boasted Andriy Biletsky, founder of Ukraine’s far-right Azov regiment, referring sarcastically to the annual celebration of Russia’s military that took place Tuesday. He declared that Ukrainian troops had “destroyed” the entire Russian brigade — typically featuring thousands of troops — but others stopped short of that claim.
“Ukrainian forces conducted successful limited counterattacks around Bakhmut on May 9,” said the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, citing geolocated footage of marginal advances” west and southwest of the city.
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