They didn't though. It's a fake claim.
I think the reason he doesn't order a withdrawal at this point is the same reason he hasn't withdrawn when reports of Wagner casualties were reaching as high as a thousand per day - because those doing the heavy fighting and sustaining most of the casualties were grunts who he regards as expendable. As long as he has enough of those, he'll keep pressing, especially if he believes what was being said about controlling that road into Bakhmut being a vital strategic objective toward actually taking the Donbass. For sure, anyone who's been trying to take a small sized town for 8 months, sustaining thousands and thousands of casualties in the process cannot be called a master of strategy, so I couldn't rule out pure incompetence, either.
Yes but someone who threatened to pull out entirely a few weeks ago due to alleged low ammunition supplies putting them at risk, for him to then knowlingly put them at risk of complete encirclement by still pushing forward as the flanks are taken, doesnt make sense.
and we know he knows the risk because of his comments yesterday
Perhaps this is Putin's hope. Bonus points if Prigozhin is encircled with his men in Bakmut and taken out. Prigozhin is clearly a potential rival to Putin at this stage and given Putin's MO, Prigozhin and his army are welcome to die for Mother Russia. Sure, it'll just delay the inevitable, but at least Prigozhin wouldn't be to one to show him out a window.
Prigozhin isn't actually concerned about his troops being at risk. Obviously, if he were concerned about that, he wouldn't have been flinging them at Ukrainian positions in the first place. The ammo complaint was, to my mind, much more about the ability to take Bakhmut at all because there is no capacity to move forward in any real way without that resource, assuming supply of expendable grunts is still there. In that way, it's really about his reputation. At this point, because he's committed so much towards grinding his way through the city and because the Russian military has allegedly given him more ammo, I believe he's resolved to try and push toward that road before any potential encirclement can be completed, which is a risk, but sunk-cost and all that, plus if he's any way thinking, he's going to have himself and his top men in a position to escape if the worst-case scenario really does come to the fore.
Not far from the truth.
Russians measure gains in meters, Ukraine measures in km2.
There are a few on here that unless the Kremlin admit something, it's just a fake claim.
It appears they did shoot one down.
Unfortunately internet detectives are looking at the inner warhead and deciding it doesn't look like the outer shell.
well, it cheered up you at least?
Could well be a matter of personal survival for himself too....Ideally, if he could have taken Bakhmut before the Victory Day celebrations, and presented it to Putin to have him announce it, that would have been a big achievement, and guaranteed him a place in the Victors spotlight. ( and out of Putin's retirement plan) But the opposite has happened, and he has failed. Anything that comes out of his mouth now, I would not believe... ( not that I was ever believing everything he said anyway) story's of shell/ ammunition starvation etc. The net is definitely closing on him.
They're very slowly defecting... :)
Reports of potential retreats filtering through
Lol, you'd think they'd have at least one brain cell between them to rub together.
Heard this the other day...
New Orc defences spotted in Crimea.
And their senate has just approved a resolution fast-tracking Ukraine's membership application of NATO
Yup - but not in the black sea ,
At 2 million a pop theyre not going to be fired on just anything , its unlikely to be fired at Russia proper though ,no matter plenty of juicy targets in crimea
The range is still a bit of a mystery too ..
We're nearly half way through May and Bakhmut somehow hasn't fallen yet? Will it make it to see June?
Just saying , like
And those are images from commercial satelites ,
I mean its not as if anyone would have regular real time satelite images that they could share with a power that had recently come in to long range low observability cruise missile ...
Amazing to think back to the start.
Fallen to which side?
:)
Do you get the feeling that bakhmut has been holding for as long as ukraine needed with the absolute minimum amount of force required ...
As the weather improves the highway isnt as critical -
And now,as ukraine starts limited offensives russia is in a dilema -
To Reinforce bahkmut again , will require stripping other places of quality troops -
To not reinforce bahkmut and loose ground would be a huge moral blow , and allow ukraine to shape the area for their big offensive, expose kremina ,
From the Guardian:
"Belgium will use €92m (£81m/$101m) it has received in taxes on frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, its government said on Friday, Reuters reports.
Half of the amount will be used to deliver military goods such as armoured vehicles, weapons and munition. The other half is earmarked for humanitarian support, the future reconstruction of Ukraine and strengthening Belgium’s diplomatic presence in the country, the government said."
It's starting to happen..
Based off the CNN report yesterday ,
The UK said they were sending them but no timeframe on it
Seems the Russians are making plans
Plans? Please call it with it is, it's a retreat.
This Ukrainian gains prove that Prigozyn's rants were legit and not some psyops. That is good news.
No, they're not, and for sure not at Russia either. None the less now that everything on the territory of Ukraine is within their reach ( as I understand it? ) that's going to make Russia's already bad logistics even worse, so even more headaches for Putin. Once Russian incoming supply chain's are slowed down, or better still stopped, that's the beginning of the end of Putin's defensive or offensive front lines. And moving military equipment out of range even by itself, is a huge logistical task. Once one or two are fired, and the Russians can see what they are capable of, they will not need too much persuading, so will be well worth the 2 Million price tag.
If the pushback has started, ( as it seems top have ) the question is will Wagner still be there by end of June?
Fast tracking Ukraine NATO membership? The sooner the better!! The day that happens, Putins war will end. One way or another.
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