RUSSIA’S PLANS TO TAKING OVER EASTERN UKRAINE COULD TAKE TWO YEARS, SAYS WAGNER BOSS

Sat 11 February 2023:

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, has said it could take two years for Russia to fully control the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine, two regions whose capture Moscow has stated as a key goal of the war.

Prigozhin, who has emerged from the shadows to become a high-profile figure since the start of the war, suggested Russia’s focus was now on capturing the rest of the Donbas region it has not occupied since the start of the war nearly a year ago.

In a video published on Friday with the Russian military blogger Semyon Pegov, reported by Reuters, Prigozhin said: As far as I understand, we need to close off the Donetsk and Luhansk republics and in principle that will suit everyone for now.

That could take one and a half to two years, he said.

In September, Vladimir Putin formally annexed the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in Ukraine, along with Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, in defiance of international law and condemned by UN member states as illegal.

“If we have to get to the Dnipro, then it will take about three years,” Prigozhin added, referring to a larger area that would extend to the vast Dnipro River that runs roughly north to south, bisecting Ukraine.

Prigozhin claimed that Wagner troops were making gradual progress in Bakhmut, but acknowledged that Russian solders had not yet been able to capture it in some of the fiercest fighting since the start of the war.

“It is probably too early to say that we are close. There are many roads out and fewer roads in. Ukrainian troops are well trained and, like any large city, it is impossible to capture it from head-on. We are managing very well. First, we have to quietly take [Bakhmut] and then we can say loud and clear that we have taken it,” Prigozhin said.

Prigozhin does not speak for the Russian military but his comments provide a rare insight into Russian expectations of the conflict, from the head of a group at the centre of some of its fiercest fighting.

Prigozhin said he didn’t care if Wagner fighters “like the Third Reich”, or had “gang tattoos”, saying the only thing that mattered was “how you treat your brothers in arms” and carry yourself in battle. In the interview, he denied using prisoners as cannon fodder.

Wagner operates as a Kremlin-sanctioned rival to Russia’s defence ministry and has been given responsibility for capturing the Donbas city of Bakhmut in a “meat grinder” battle that has cost thousands of lives over several months.

Prigozhin founded the Wagner group, a private military company, in 2014, but did not admit this until last September. Also known as “Putin’s chef”, Prigozhin has a catering business that hosts dinners attended by the Russian president.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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