Russia’s defences are ‘more fragile than thought’ Western officials reveal amid growing signs Ukraine’s counter-offensive IS underway
- Western advisers warn Russia’s defensive line may be ‘more fragile than thought’
- Ukrainian forces have advanced in Novodonetsk by up to five or six kilometres
Russia’s defences could be ‘more fragile than thought’, western officials have warned amid growing signs that Ukraine’s counter-offensive has begun.
Ukrainian forces have advanced in Novodonetsk by up to five or six kilometres, it has emerged. Officials claim ‘fierce battles are going on’ for control of the settlement.
American and European military officials advising Kyiv have claimed that Kremlin defensive lines may be fragile, an insider told The Economist today.
Semyon Pegov, a prominent Kremlin-affiliated ‘milblogger’, confirmed that Ukraine had ‘some success’ in an attack in Novoselivka-Ugledar and claimed updates from the Russian-controlled region were ‘more and more alarming every hour’.
Pegov, commonly known under his alias Wargonzo, said the war is ‘heating up’ and that today’s attack was ‘much more serious than yesterday’.
Russia’s defences could be ‘more fragile than thought’, western officials have warned amid growing signs that Ukraine’s counter-offensive has begun. Pictured: View of a military vehicle as Ukrainian forces destroy Russian positions in direction of Bakhmut yesterday
American and European military officials advising Kyiv have claimed that Kremlin defensive lines may be fragile, sources allege. Pictured: Servicemen of the assault brigade ‘Spartan’ of National Guard of Ukraine, take part in military exercises in Kharkiv region on Thursday
Servicemen of the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade run through the clouds of smoke during the 30th Chestnut Run are pictured in Zaporizhzhia Region, southeastern Ukraine on May 28
Ukrainian forces punched through Russian defensive lines in southeast Ukraine for a second day, with Russian officials saying today that Moscow’s forces have foiled at least one assault.
Kyiv said their forces were indeed increasing offensive operations and making gains, but suggested some of the Russian announcements were misinformation as speculation grows about a widely anticipated counteroffensive after more than 15 months of war.
Vladimir Rogov, an official in the Russia-backed administration of Ukraine’s partly occupied Zaporizhzhia province, said fighting resumed on its border with the eastern Donetsk province on Monday after Russian defenses beat back a Ukrainian advance the previous day.
‘The enemy threw an even bigger force into the attack than yesterday (Sunday),’ and the new attempt to break through the front line was ‘more large-scale and organised,’ Rogov said, adding: ‘A battle is underway.’
Rogov interpreted the Ukrainian military movements as part of an effort to reach the Sea of Azov coast and sever the land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Analysts have long viewed that strategy as likely because it would cut the Russian forces in two and severely strain supplies to Crimea, which has served as a key Russian military hub in the war that started Feb. 24, 2022.
Rogov’s comments came after Moscow also said that its forces thwarted large Ukrainian attacks in Donetsk province, near its border with the Zaporizhzhia province.
A Ukrainian soldier fires a mortar at Russian positions on the frontline near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, May 29, 2023
An aerial view shows destructions in the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, in this handout picture released on May 21, 2023
The chief of the Wagner mercenary group has lambasted Russia’s military leaders after Ukrainian armed forces managed to retake settlements on the outskirts of Bakhmut.
Yevgeny Prigozhin said it was a ‘disgrace’ that Kyiv’s troops were able to push back Russian lines and seize Berkhivka, a town in the northern suburbs of the embattled city.
Russia claims to have thwarted ‘major’ attack in Donetsk: Read more
A Ukrainian soldier fires a mortar at Russian positions on the frontline near Bakhmut, Donetsk
Prigozhin’s Wagner group just last month managed to wrest Bakhmut out of Ukrainian hands after months of brutal fighting reminiscent of World War I trench warfare, with tens of thousands killed on both sides.
The mercenary figurehead hit out at Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu and army chief Valery Gerasimov, taunting them and urging them to go to the frontlines and see the failures for themselves as the armed factions spiral towards civil war.
‘Now part of the settlement of [Berkhivka] has already been lost, the troops are slowly falling back. What a disgrace!
‘Shoigu, Gerasimov, I urge you to come to the front, raise your pistols at your men to make them go forward. Come on, you can!
‘And if you can’t, then you will die as heroes.’
Prigozhin’s latest tirade comes as his mercenaries captured a lieutenant colonel from Vladimir Putin’s regular forces in the latest example of bitter infighting in Russian ranks.
The captured colonel was seen hanging his head in a humiliating video posted by the Wagner group in which he confessed his ‘guilt’ and admitted to being drunk on duty after allegedly shooting at a Wagner vehicle.
This follows claims by the mercenaries that the regular Russian army targeted their ranks with mines, as a clip showed their sappers clearing the explosive devices from a road.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has launched several verbal tirades at Putin’s military leaders. He has accused them of ordering their troops to retreat from their positions and leaving Wagner fighters unprotected on the frontlines
Wagner private army mercenaries film themselves de-mining a road which they claim was mined by regular Russian troops as the mercenaries made their way back from the front
Wagner mercenaries have been fighting for Putin in Ukraine and are credited with seizing the embattled city of Bakhmut from Ukrainian armed forces after months of bloody warfare.
But their success has seemingly angered regular Russian army commanders.
READ MORE: Russia claims to have thwarted ‘major’ attack in Donetsk
Wagner chief Prigozhin has launched several verbal tirades at Putin’s military leaders. He has accused them of ordering their troops to retreat from their positions and leaving Wagner fighters unprotected on the frontlines.
The captured soldier identified himself as Roman Venevitin, commander of Russia’s 72nd Brigade.
Venevitin, who appeared to have a broken or wounded nose, confessed that he ‘opened fire on a Wagner PMC [private military company] vehicle while intoxicated from alcohol’.
He did so due to ‘personal animosity’, he claimed.
The shooting damaged a Ural supply truck but did not wound any Wagner soldiers, according to the private army.
Venevitin also confessed to leading a group of ten to 12 Russian army soldiers who ‘disarmed’ a Wagner rapid response group.
‘Does personal animosity have any place at all in war?’ an angry Wagner commander asked Venevitin.
‘No,’ the captured colonel replied sheepishly.
Wagner has a reputation for battering its own ‘traitors’ to death with a sledgehammer – but there is no suggestion the Russian colonel will face the same treatment.
A summary execution of a high-ranking Russian commander by Wagner forces would cause unprecedented chaos in Moscow’s ranks.
Founder of Wagner private mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin (right) speaks with servicemen during the withdrawal of his forces from Bakhmut and the handover to regular Russian forces
A Ukrainian soldier fires a mortar at Russian positions on the frontline near Bakhmut
The Wagner group is fighting in Ukraine on behalf of Vladimir Putin, but the relationship between them and Putin’s regular troops is one of mutual hatred
The capture of Venevitin came hours after Wagner mercenaries were forced to clear a road of mines which they claim had been laid by the regular army corps.
READ MORE: One Russian was killed for every 48cm of land captured by Vladimir Putin’s forces in the siege of Bakhmut
Prigozhin said hundreds of mines had been laid by the regular army to snare Wagner forces when they pulled out of Bakhmut after securing a rare victory for Putin in the war.
‘We discovered about a dozen places where various explosive devices were placed, ranging from hundreds of anti-tank mines to tons of [charges] from Zmey Gorynych self-propelled missiles,’ Prigozhin said.
‘Those who planted these charges were representatives of the ministry of defence… These [explosive] charges did not need to be stacked in order to hold back the enemy since it is in the rear area.
‘It can be assumed that they wanted to meet the advancing units of the Wagner PMC [Private Military Company] with these charges, even though we do not walk in columns.’
It highlights the rift inside the Kremlin forces fighting Ukraine, and some analysts see civil war as a possibility in Russia if Putin loses the war.
Despite huge losses, and a ban on recruiting prisoners from Russia’s penal colonies, Prigozhin is still thought to have up to 60,000 men at his disposal.
Wagner is one of several private armies in Russia. Chechen warlord leader Ramzan Kadyrov controls a heavily armed group of his own, and Russian energy giant Gazprom has set up its own private military company.
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