UK Defense Ministry: Russia intensifies assault on Bakhmut as Wagner, regular army improve cooperation
Russia has stepped up its offensive on Donetsk Oblast's Bakhmut as the Russian regular army and paramilitary group Wagner have improved cooperation, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on April 14.
Ukrainian defenders still hold the western districts of the city, but they have come under particularly intense Russian artillery fire over the past 48 hours, the ministry wrote in its daily intelligence update.
Wagner assault groups reportedly keep conducting the main offensive through the center of Bakhmut, while Russian airborne troops have reinforced some Wagner units on the northern and southern flanks of the operation.
"Ukrainian forces face significant resupply issues but have made orderly withdrawals from the positions they have been forced to concede," concludes the update.
Russia's state-backed private mercenary Wagner Group has been assisting Russia's military in trying to capture Ukraine's eastern city of Bakhmut for the past nine months as Moscow tries to consolidate its grip over the entirety of Donetsk Oblast.
Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian military's Eastern Operational Command, said on April 11 that Wagner mercenaries fighting in Bakhmut would only last two more months if their tactics remained unchanged. He acknowledged that the forecast was subjective, although grounded in the high casualty rates of Wagner troops.
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on Feb. 16 that Kremlin-backed private mercenary Wagner Group and Russian proxy units active in eastern Ukraine were losing up to 80% of some assault units.
