Ukraine says it has pushed back Russian forces in Bakhmut

The Ukrainian army on Wednesday said that Russian forces have begun to retreat in the key city of Bakhmut — just as President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed that more time is needed to prepare for a counterstrike.

The hotly contested eastern Ukrainian city that has been the backdrop for many of the war’s fiercest battles has seemingly been abandoned by some Russian troops, according to Ukraine’s ground forces commander.

Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Russian troops in parts of Bakhmut have retreated following triumphant counterattacks left Wagner troops fatigued.

The units that fled have moved about 1.2 miles back, he said.

“In some areas of the front, the enemy could not resist the onslaught of the Ukrainian defenders and retreated to a distance of up to 2 kilometers,” or about 1.2 miles, Syrskyi wrote in a Telegram post.

The Ukrainian offensive left Wagner forces depleted, prompting the Russian command to fill some flanks with less professional units.

“Despite the significant concentration of troops and the loud statements of Russian war criminals about their intention to take Bakhmut by May 9, the enemy was still unable to capture the Ukrainian city,” he said

The leader of the Wagner group Yevgeny Prigozhin confirmed on Thursday that Ukrainian troops “successfully entered some of our flanks in the Bakhmut direction.”

In a video shared to Telegram Tuesday, Prigozhin said troops were fleeing because of the “stupidity” of Russian commanders, Al Jazeera reported.

“A soldier shouldn’t die because of his leaders’ absolute stupidity,” he said. “The commands they receive from the top are absolutely criminal.”

Later that day, Russia’s defense ministry said that “assault troops” or Wagner units, were still fighting in Bakhmut. The ministry did not mention Prigozhin’s claims that soldiers have abandoned their posts.

The Bakhmut operation is not part of an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive, which the country still needs time to prepare for, Zelensky said in an interview Thursday.

“With [what we have] we can go forward and be successful,” Zelensky told BBC News. “But we’d lose a lot of people. I think that’s unacceptable. So we need to wait. We still need a bit of time.”

While it’s unclear when Ukraine will strike back, Zelensky expressed confidence that the military could advance and shunned the idea of a “frozen conflict,” which, he said, Russia was “counting on.”

According to Zelensky, any result that is disappointing to Ukraine’s Western allies may mean a reduction in military support and increased pressure to negotiate with Russia.

“Everyone will have an idea,” Zelensky said. “[But] they can’t pressure Ukraine into surrendering territories. Why should any country of the world give Putin its territory?”

With Post wires.