Bakhmut becomes a Russian mass grave – driving Prigozhin crazy

“For Russia, these efforts, especially in Bakhmut, come at a very, very high price,” US National Security Council communications director John Kirby told media.

The high price has also been quantified: the fighting in Ukraine has cost a total of 20,000 dead and 100,000 casualties on the Russian side since December. According to the report, 10,000 deaths—half of all deaths—were recorded by Wagner’s mercenary force alone.

After Kirby’s statements, it was initially unclear whether the intelligence information reflected the war in Ukraine as a whole or just the battle for the embattled city of Bakhmut. However, a representative of the National Security Council made it clear to the German news agency on Tuesday that the number of casualties relates to the fighting across Ukraine.

There is no neutral confirmation of these numbers. But there is no denying that much blood has been shed in this battle. For months now, the Russians have been sending thousands of troops, some of them poorly equipped, into battle. Most of them are former prisoners.

According to their own statements, the attackers now control about 85 percent of the city of Bakhmut.

Kremlin: US figures on Russian losses “made up out of the blue”

The Kremlin has denied White House claims that there have been many Russian casualties in Ukraine. “Absolutely out of the blue,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday, according to the Interfax news agency, according to an estimate based on information from US intelligence.

At a briefing Monday, a White House representative, John Kirby, estimated the number of Russian soldiers killed and wounded in Ukraine alone since December at 100,000. Instead, Peskov advised “to be guided by the figures that the Russian Ministry of Defense publishes in a timely manner.”

Last September, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke of 5,937 casualties on the Russian side. A spokesman for the government in Donetsk, which is loyal to Moscow, also confirmed in November the deaths of 3,930 fighters from the region, which were probably not included in Shoigu’s statistics.

Prigozhin complains and warns

“Every day we have thousands of corpses in piles that we put in the coffin and send home,” said Wagner boss Prigozhin in an interview with Russian military blogger Semyon Pegow published this weekend. The losses are five times higher than necessary due to the lack of artillery ammunition, he criticized and even threatened to withdraw his mercenary force from Bakhmut.

“We only have 10 to 15 percent of the shells we need,” the Wagner boss complained about the poor equipment of the Russian troops. But he can also afford to criticize because he is considered a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Prigozhin expects the Ukrainian offensive to begin on May 15. “This counter-offensive could become a tragedy for our country,” he said.

He again blamed the Russian army command.

Why is Russia digging trenches?

Is it the fear of this very Ukrainian offensive? According to British intelligence, Russia has built strong defenses at the front, as well as in occupied Ukrainian territories and sometimes deep within its own country.

“Images show that Russia has made special efforts to strengthen the northern border of occupied Crimea,” the British defense ministry said on Monday. Hundreds of kilometers of trenches have also been dug in internationally recognized Russian territory, including Belgorod and Kursk Oblasts bordering Ukraine.

In London, two possible reasons for the defensive investments were mentioned. “The defenses underline the deep concern of the Russian leadership that Ukraine could make a major breakthrough,” the army said. “But some of the work was probably commissioned by local commanders and politicians to support the official line that Russia is ‘threatened’ by Ukraine and NATO.”

(aeg/sda/tonline)