The private military company Wagner is partly dictating Russian strategy in the Donbas because of the political ambitions of its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
According to the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, in an interview with The New York Times, Prigozhin launched a "crusade" to capture Bakhmut. Its goal is to oust the commanders of the regular Russian army.
As Budanov noted, the Wagner PMC is coordinated with the Russian army, but so far, it is the main force in the Bakhmut direction. The alliance between Prigozhin and the commander of the Russian troops in Ukraine, Sergey Surovikin, strengthened the positions of the mercenaries. They united against Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Ukrainian soldiers heroically hold the line in Bakhmut, stormed by Wagner PMC mercenaries. Heavy fighting continues around Bakhmut. The defense of the Bakhmut fortress will go down in history as a unique operation of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.
The alliance between Prigozhin and Surovikin led to the transfer of heavy weapons to Wagner units, expanding the role of PMCs in the war.
“There is only an ideological and media issue here. This is why the Wagner units are so fanatically trying to capture this city. They must be shown that they are strong and can do what the Russian army cannot. We clearly see and understand this ", - said Budanov commenting on the assault on Bakhmut.
The head of the HUR stressed that the capture of Bakhmut is not considered strategically important but would improve Russia's position in the east by opening roads to other Donbas cities that are under Ukrainian control.
In attacks near Bakhmut, Prigozhin sent recruited "convicts" who were promised amnesty.
