Prigozhin prepares to explain the defeat of the "Wagnerians" around Bakhmut - ISW

Prigozhin prepares to explain the defeat of the “Wagnerians” around Bakhmut – ISW

The leader of the PKK scares the Russians with a large-scale offensive of the Armed Forces.

The leader of the “Wagner” PMK Yevgeny Prigozhin is preparing to justify the defeat of his mercenaries in the battles in the Bakhmut direction to the Russian audience.

In the summary , the Institute for the Study of War notes that in his recent interview, Prigozhin talked about Ukraine’s planned counteroffensive in five directions at once.

According to him, these operations will begin from mid-April, so he called on the Russian troops to prepare for these counterattacks, having ammunition and equipment with them.

ISW analysts believe that Prigozhin described Ukrainian forces as having sufficient combat power to launch a massive theater-wide counteroffensive in order to justify the failure of the Wagner PMC to complete the encirclement of Bakhmut.

ISW wrote that Wagner’s ability to achieve tactical success in Bakhmut itself is diminishing, and Prigozhin is likely trying to present these actions as flank defense in preparation for a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

In addition, military experts note that the Ukrainian counteroffensive described by Prigozhin also implies that, in his opinion, Russian troops will soon give the initiative to Ukraine and will be forced to go on the defensive, rather than continue unsuccessful offensives in the area of Kreminnaya, Bakhmut, Avdiivka or Vugledar .

(C)UNIAN 2023