‘WE ARE LEAVING’

Prigozhin Says Wagner Will Withdraw From Bakhmut After Declaring Victory

The warlord said his positions will be handed over to the Russian Defense Ministry.

The founder of Russia’s Wagner Group on Sunday said his mercenaries will finally leave Bakhmut on Thursday after claiming to have captured the city. Yevgeny Prigozhin said the withdrawal will take place between May 25 and June 1 after his fighters “captured all the territory we promised to capture, right up to the last centimeter.” “We are handing over our positions to [Russia’s] Defense Ministry and on the 25th we are leaving the conflict zone,” Prigozhin said in a voice message published on Telegram. On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted that Bakhmut “is not occupied by Russia” during a press conference at the G7 summit in Japan. He also likened the “absolute total destruction” of Bakhmut to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the end of World War II.