Wagner Group Pins Blame on Russian MoD for Stalled Bakhmut Campaign—ISW

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Russian businessman behind the mercenary group fighting for Moscow in Ukraine, is portraying their inability to make gains in Bakhmut as a failure of the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has said.

The U.S. think tank said Russian news agency RIA Novosti had amplified an interview with Prigozhin, who finances the Wagner Group. He states in the interview that his forces could not get through Ukrainian defenses in the Donetsk Oblast city.

Prigozhin said the group's efforts had stalled due to the strength of Ukraine's defensive lines, the fortress-like nature of each house, and the need for Russians to clear building by building. This was at odds with an account he gave in October when he claimed his troops were advancing up to 200 meters a day.

"This is a significant inflection for Prigozhin," the ISW said on Tuesday, noting that it was the first time he had framed his forces "as making effectively no gains" in Bakhmut.

As recently as last month, Prigozhin had claimed the mercenaries made gains in the same city effectively without other Russian help.

Known for his close ties to Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin has been critical of Russian military failures in Ukraine. The ISW said that Prigozhin is likely pushing a narrative in which he can blame the Wagner Group's failure on the Russian Ministry of Defense or the Russian industrial base.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment.

The think tank noted the significance of Wagner Group soldiers telling Prigozhin—"during a likely scripted segment" in the interview—that they were unable to break through Ukrainian lines in Bakhmut "due to insufficient armored vehicles, ammunition, and 100 mm shell supplies."

"This statement seeks to absolve the Wagner Group and Prigozhin of personal responsibility by attributing their failure to capture Bakhmut to the larger Russian resource allocation problems that Russian and Ukrainian sources have been increasingly discussing since late December," ISW said.

The ISW added that on Tuesday, Ukrainian troops had repelled Russian attacks near Bakhmut itself as well as towns up to 11 miles away.

Meanwhile, a Russian milblogger claimed that Wagner Group squads are continuing attempts to push north towards Bakhmut from positions around eight miles southwest and three miles south of the city.

Bakhmut has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky paid a surprise visit to troops in the city on December 20.

In an article for the Atlantic Council think tank, Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelensky's office, wrote on December 25 that Bakhmut was a "fortress" where "thousands of Ukrainians are on the front line fighting for freedom."

"Their daily struggle takes place knee-deep in mud and on frozen ground," he added.