Days after declaring victory in Bakhmut, the Wagner private military company said Thursday that it was turning the Ukrainian city over to the Russian army, which must now try to hold on to it without the help of the brutal mercenary force on which it has grown dependent.
Wagner’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, suggested that Russia’s regular soldiers can expect no more help from the group — at least, not in Bakhmut. In a three-minute video, Prigozhin is shown visiting what he says are Wagner positions in the city and telling his fighters to hand them over to Russian troops.