Wagner Group Leader Says Russia Has Met Its Goals In Ukraine

The Wagner mercenary group captured two more areas of Bakhmut, Russia’s defense ministry said Saturday, one day after the group’s founder said Russia has should end its “special military operation” against its neighbor. 

The time has come for a “firm end” to the war in Ukraine, Yevgeny Prigozhin posted Friday on Telegram. He wrote that “Russia has achieved the results it wanted” and has “eradicated most of active male population of Ukraine and intimidated the rest,” omitting any of Ukraine’s victories over Russia. 

Since last summer, the Wagner Group has led Russia in the fight for Bakhmut, some of the deadliest and bloodiest battles of the war. 

“Bloody battles unprecedented in recent decades are taking place in the middle of the city’s urban area,” Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern military command, said Saturday. 

“Our soldiers are doing everything in bloody and fierce battles to grind down (the enemy’s) combat capability and break its morale. Every day, in every corner of this city, they are successfully doing so,” he told the 1+1 television channel. 

His comments came as the Russia Defense Ministry said on Saturday that Wagner now controlled two more areas on the northern and southern outskirts of the city. Reuters could not independently confirm the report. 

In its Friday intelligence update, the British Defense Ministry wrote that Ukrainian troops had been forced to withdraw from parts of Bakhmut after a renewed Russian assault on the ravaged city. According to the update, “Russia has re-energized its assault on the Donetsk Oblast town of Bakhmut as forces of the Russian MoD [Ministry of Defense] and Wagner Group have improved co-operation.” 

The death toll from a Russian airstrike on Friday rose on Saturday to at least 11 people, with 21 wounded in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, northwest of Bakhmut. 

Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told national television Friday that seven missiles had been fired on the city. According to Ukrainian national police, S-300 missiles struck 10 apartment buildings and other sites. The top two floors of a five-story building collapsed after the strike. Rescue teams were looking for survivors. 

A child was pulled alive from the rubble but died on the way to a hospital, said Daria Zarivna, a senior official in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office. Kyrylenko also said people were believed to be trapped under the debris. 

Russian conscription law 

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a on bill Friday allowing authorities to issue electronic conscription notices. The law has raised concern that Russia is planning another mobilization drive. 

According to the British intelligence update, under the new law, the conscription notices are considered valid as soon as they are sent electronically. The law also prohibits those who are conscripted from leaving the country and allows authorities to suspend the drivers’ licenses of conscripts who fail to report for duty. 

In September, Putin announced the mobilization of about 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine. The Associated Press reports the order is estimated to have prompted an exodus of hundreds of thousands of Russian men. 

Gershkovich prisoner swap 

Russia has still not allowed access of U.S. officials to Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich since he was detained last month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday — a situation that Blinken stressed needed to be redressed immediately. 

“We continue to call for his immediate release,” Blinken told reporters during a news conference in Hanoi. “We need consular access now,” The Washington Postreports. 

According to The Wall Street Journal, Russia could consider the possibility of a prisoner exchange for the jailed reporter once a Russian court reaches a verdict on espionage charges against him, a senior Russian official said. 

Poland curbs imports 

Poland’s government said Saturday it has decided to temporarily stop grain and other food imports from Ukraine to stem the rising anger of Polish farmers, who say they cannot compete against the lower priced Ukrainian grain on the market. 

Ruling party leader Jarosław Kaczynski said at a party convention in eastern Poland that while Poland supports Ukraine, it is forced to act to protect its farmers who are facing a “moment of crisis.” 

“Today, the government has decided on a regulation that prohibits the importation of grain, but also dozens of other types of food, to Poland,” Kaczynski said. The government announced its ban on imports of agricultural products such as sugar, eggs, meat, dairy and vegetables would last until June 30. 

Farmers in neighboring countries also have complained they are losing money because of Ukrainian grain flooding their countries and creating a glut that has caused prices to fall.