The Wagner group will withdraw from Bakhmut from May 25 to June 1, the founder of the mercenary group, Yevheniy Prigozhin, has said.
In response to journalists' questions, he said:
"Yes, it is true. Defense lines have been set up on the western outskirts. That is why the Wagner group is leaving Bakhmut from May 25 to June 1."
Earlier, Prigozhin had already announced the withdrawal of Wagner's troops to the rear for rest and retraining. According to him, the positions in Bakhmut will be transferred to the regular army. If the Defense Ministry's troops are not enough, he suggested gathering one general regiment to defend the city.
"We are not going to Khromove, we are not going to Ivanivske, we are handing over our positions and leaving the combat zone on June 25. Starting June 1, there will be no Wagner soldiers on the front line. Until we are reorganized, re-equipped and re-trained," Prigozhin said earlier, noting that Khromove and Ivanivske (a village and a town in Bakhmut district) will be stormed by the Defense Ministry units.
Last weekend, the head of the Wagner group announced the capture of Bakhmut. According to him, the mercenaries reached the western outskirts of the city. The Armed Forces of Ukraine denied the claims of capturing the city.
"This is not true. Our units continue to fight," Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, told Reuters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also denied claims of Russian control over Bakhmut. However, he said that the city was completely destroyed by Russian troops in their attempts to capture it.
"You have to understand: there is nothing left there. They destroyed everything. There is not a single intact building there. This is a huge tragedy, but today Bakhmut exists only in our hearts," Zelensky said, speaking at the G7 summit in Hiroshima.