Wagner Boss Denies Deployment to 'Post Apocalyptic' Avdiivka Frontline 

Reports of Russian fighters being strategically redeployed from Bakhmut to Avdiivka are being refuted by the head of a paramilitary outfit.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the private military company Wagner Group, denied media reports of his soldiers being transferred to Avdiivka to ensure Russia's success in the region.

The Ukrainian-held Donbas city of Avdiivka, located approximately 90 kilometers (55.9 miles) south of Bakhmut and just north of Russian-occupied Donetsk, has been labeled by Ukrainian military officials as a "second Bakhmut" due to increased shelling in recent weeks.

"No, this is not true," Prigozhin said in a Telegram post published Tuesday. "There are no divisions of PMC (Private Military Company) 'Wagner' on Avdiivka and never have been. All tasks that are performed are performed exclusively by the military. And good luck to the guys in their task!"

Prigozhin's statement contradicts a new assessment published by The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, which said that Russian military leadership have likely committed "limited higher quality Wagner Group elements" to its offensive on Avdiivka to "potentially to reinforce recent limited tactical successes in the area."

The British Ministry of Defense said in its own March 20 assessment that Russia was making "creeping gains" in the largely destroyed city of Avdiivka.

Vitaliy Barabash, the city's administration head, said Sunday on his Telegram channel that Russian forces are turning Avdiivka into "a place from post-apocalyptic movies" and may be "wiped off the face of the Earth."

New video footage released by the Donetsk regional police and published by The Guardian shows destruction including residential blocks with charred walls and piles of rubble on deserted streets. Police reportedly continue to attempt to evacuate citizens.

Prigozhin's fighters have spent much of their war-time action in Bakhmut, a city where tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides have reportedly been injured or killed since fighting escalated last summer.

Sergiy Kudelia, an associate professor of political science at Baylor University, told Newsweek via email that "Bakhmut is almost fully encircled" by Russians and may have given the Russian military the belief "that the job is basically done there."

"Their new strategy may be waiting the Ukrainians out until they run out of supplies and withdraw or surrender," he said, adding that Avdiivka's significance is crucial due to its proximity with Donetsk.

Donetsk is also a reminder of "constant failure" for Russian forces, he added, because they were unable to secure the central town in the Donbas over a year after it launched its special military operation.

If Ukraine continues to hold steady in Avdiivka, Kudelia said it prevents a further movement of the front westward in the direction of Kurakhove and the encirclement of Uhledar from the north.

"So, they need to take control over Avdiivka—which is now just a heavily fortified ghost town with no buildings or residents left—to make larger territorial gains," he said.

While Wagner's official strategic position remains unverified based on the conflicting reports by Prigozhin and ISW, Kudelia said it wouldn't be a surprise to see those fighters at the forefront of this new operation.

"They are Russia's go-to frontal assault troops due to [their] high casualty rate acceptance," he said.

Newsweek reached out to the Ukrainian and Russian defense ministries via email for comment.

Update 3/29/23, 12:41 p.m. ET: This story was updated to clarify a comment by Sergiy Kudelia.