Russian ukraine war bakhmut

Russian soldiers who have taken over military positions in Bakhmut from Wagner troops have quickly abandoned them out of fear, a Ukrainian officer The head of intelligence for Ukraine's 228th Battalion, who goes by the call sign "Zulu," said Ukraine's efforts have been aided by soldiers from the traditional Russian military taking over from the mercenary force. "As soon as Wagner left and the regular Russian troops stepped in, they abandoned their positions," he said, adding: "The Wagner fighters would hold positions until the very end. Many of them were prisoners, right? So they knew it was either fight or go back to prison." The Wagner Group, which has thousands of mercenary fighters and prisoners serving in Ukraine, has spearheaded Russia's efforts to capture the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The battle is considered the longest and bloodiest of the war to date. Zulu said that Russian soldiers "have no motivation. They don't understand what they are doing here. So as soon as they are afraid, they just run." The head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, complained earlier this month that The Kremlin has not responded publicly to the allegations. Ukraine's 228th Battalion recently withdrew from Bakhmut, the Times reported. Kostiantyn Zhydkov, the commander of the 228th Battalion, described the brutality of the fighting to the Times: "I haven't seen anything as terrifying as this during the entire war." "It was like something I had only previously seen in films abo...