Mercenary group Wagner chief says Moscow could take two years to capture eastern Ukrainian regions

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In an interviewon Friday (February 10), the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, spoke about how Russian forces must capture the strategic Ukrainian city of Bakhmut to proceed with their “special military operation” in the country. However, he added, they were facing fierce resistance from Ukrainian troops in the region. The interview was taken by a Russian military blogger,Semyon Pegov,and later made public.As per media reports, Prigozhin also said that Moscow needs to establish clear goals as the conflict approaches the one-year mark.

During the interview,Prigozhin said that Russiacould take at least two years to control Ukraine's eastern region, whose capture Moscow has stated as a key goal of the conflict. The Wagner founder group also spoke about how, as per his understanding of Moscow'splan, it needed to fully control the Donetsk and Luhansk regions which it previously claimed as "republics" of Russia, a move which drew widespread condemnation.

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"As far as I understand, we need to close off the Donetsk and Luhansk republics and in principle that will suit everyone for now," saidPrigozhin, as per Reuters, citing the video of the interview posted byPegov, on Friday. The Wagner chief also said it could take one and a half to two years and if Russia wants to capture the eastern Ukrainian city ofDnipro then it would take about three years.

Additionally, the Wagner chief said that one of those goals could be to firmly establish its presence in eastern Ukraine or push forward to capture more of the country and that Bakhmut was the key to those plans. “Bakhmut is needed so our troops can operate comfortably”, said Prigozhin. He added, “Why is it called the meat grinder? Because the Ukrainian army is sending more and more and more units.”

The Wagner group has recently garnered significant attention and has reportedly been playing an increasingly prominent role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine as it captured the town of Soledar.

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“First we have to quietly take Artyomovsk (Bakhmut) and then we can say loud and clear that we have taken it,”he said, referring to Bakhmut by its Soviet-era name which is still used in Russia.

According to Prigozhin, it is too early to say if they are close to capturing Bakhmut which he has attributed to many roads out of the city but fewer roads in. He added, “Ukrainian troops are well trained...and like any large city it is impossible to capture it from head-on. We are managing very well,” as per Reuters.

He also compared the fight to capture Soledar, undertaken after failures in taking Bakhmut, to the six-month battles that the Soviet Army needed to secure Stalingrad (the present-day Russian city of Volgograd) during World War II. This comes after Prigozhin repeatedly criticised the Russian army and Kremlin commanders for their failures in the offensive against Ukraine and maintained that the battle for Soledar was exclusively waged by his Wagner forces.

However, during the recent interview, he reportedlyrefrained fromfurther attacks on Russia's military leadership but said that it is important that the top command understands the situation of the menon the front lines. "So if a general goes into a trench and talks to the soldiers, then the soldiers frankly in the current situation will be just fucking amazed and very pleased. That will be enough for them to understand they’re not sitting alone there with their problems,"he said.

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Meanwhile, the United Kingdom’s ministry of defence has speculated that the Wagner forces have advanced at least 2-3 km around northern Bakhmut since Tuesday after months of deadlock on the front lines. The ministry also spoke about how this could threaten the main western access road to Bakhmut, however, the Ukrainian military analyst has previously said that the supplies were still getting through.

In a separate interview, military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said that the situation around Bakhmut remains one of the most difficult sectors for the Ukrainian forces as Russia continues to deploy its conscripts. “The area south of Bakhmut is a very difficult sector…And the city itself remains the hottest spot on the front at this time,” said Zhdanov.

(With inputs from agencies)

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