War in Ukraine: Wagner chief confirms success of Kyiv’s counteroffensive

While propaganda has been in full swing since the start of the Ukrainian counter-offensive in early June, Kyiv received unexpected support on Friday. The leader of the Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that the Russian army was retreating on several sectors of the front, which contradicted the Kremlin’s claims.

“The (Russian) army is retreating to the region of Zaporozhye and Kherson (south), the Ukrainian armed forces are advancing,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video interview published on Telegram by his press service. “The same thing is happening in Bakhmut, the enemy will penetrate deeper and deeper into our defenses,” the businessman added, referring to the eastern city captured by the Russians, where Ukrainians say they have been advancing on the flanks in recent weeks.

“No control, no military success” from Moscow, Yevgeny Prigozhin clapped again, claiming that Russian soldiers were “washing themselves with blood”, thus claiming that they were suffering heavy losses. The words of Wagner’s chief, unconfirmed by independent sources, in any case contradict the words of President Vladimir Putin and his Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, according to which the Russian army “beats off” all Ukrainian attacks.

In recent days, the master of the Kremlin has been repeating that the Ukrainian counter-offensive has failed, and the people of Kiev have suffered almost “catastrophic” losses. On Thursday, Sergei Shoigu assured that the Ukrainian army was in the process of “regrouping” after failing to break through Russian defenses. Wagner’s chief called the Russian Defense Ministry’s victorious statements a “profound deceit”, accusing the General Staff of “concealing” Russian difficulties and losses on the ground.

Zelensky asks for patience

Although the counter-offensive began almost a month ago, the Ukrainian army claimed to have captured eight villages, mainly in the Zaporozhye (south) and Donetsk (east) regions. Minimal successes that prove that the reconquest promises to be difficult against the firmly entrenched Russians. While acknowledging that the counteroffensive is “slower than we would like,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday urged Ukrainians and Westerners to be patient. “Some people think that this is a Hollywood movie and they are waiting for the results now. It’s not like that,” he recalled.

Proof that the Ukrainian counter-offensive is taken very seriously by Moscow is the fact that Vladimir Putin has spoken about the situation on the battlefield several times over the past few days, while in recent months he has tried not to comment in detail on what is happening.

While many opponents and anonymous Russians are in jail for criticizing the conflict in Ukraine, the Wagner chief also openly questioned the reasons for the military intervention this Friday. “The war was needed in order to promote a group of bastards,” he reproached, also accusing the “Russian oligarchs” who “need the war,” and Kiev, in his words, “is ready for any deal.”