Expert tvivlar på Wagners reträtt: ”Bara dimridåer”

The battle of Bakhmut is an ongoing series of military engagements in and near the city of Bakhmut between the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Russian Armed Forces during the larger battle for Donbas. While the shelling of Bakhmut began in May 2022, the main assault towards the city started on 1 August after Russian forces advanced from the Popasna direction, following a Ukrainian withdrawal from that front. The main assault force primarily consists of mercenaries from the Russian paramilitary organization Wagner Group, supported by regular Russian troops and DPR and LPR separatist elements.As of late 2022, following Ukraine's Kharkiv and Kherson counteroffensives, the Bakhmut–Soledar front became an important focus of the war, being one of the few front lines in Ukraine where Russia remained on the offensive. Attacks on the city intensified in November 2022 as assaulting Russian forces were reinforced by units redeployed from the Kherson front, together with newly mobilized recruits. By this time, much of the front line had descended into positional trench warfare, with both sides suffering high casualties without any significant advances. The intensity of battles in the Bakhmut sector has been compared to those of World Wars I and II. By March 2023, Russian forces captured the eastern half of the city, up to the Bakhmutka river, and the battle turned into fierce urban warfare.

Wagnergruppen (ryska: Группа Вагнера, Gruppa Vagnera) är en rysk högerextrem,[källa behövs], paramilitär organisation, som tillhandahåller legosoldater till konflikter i olika delar av världen, inklusive Rysslands invasion av Ukraina 2022Wagnergruppen har rekryterat soldater till bland annat syriska inbördeskriget, andra libyska inbördeskriget samt inbördeskrigen i Centralafrikanska republiken och i Sudan.Gruppen är aktiv som stöd till Rysslands ordinarie marktrupper i Rysslands invasion av Ukraina. Enligt The Soufan Group är gruppen ökänd för sin brutalitet. I december 2017 rapporterades det om att Wagnergruppen hade uppemot 6 000 legosoldater som stred i olika konflikter. Organisationen utbildar sina soldater på en rysk militärbas i Krasnodar kraj, som används av Rysslands specialförband.