Russia has replaced Wagner private military units with regular troops on the outskirts of Bakhmut, but the group’s fighters remain inside the devastated city, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Thursday.

Ukrainian troops advance on the flanks of Bakhmut: Ukrainian commander

Ukrainian forces determinedly maintain a grip on a tiny section of the city of Bakhmut to deny the Russian invaders their desperately wanted…

see more

Her comments appeared, at least partially, to confirm an announcement by Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin that his group had started withdrawing its forces from Bakhmut in east Ukraine and handing over its positions to regular Russian troops.

“In Bakhmut’s outskirts, the enemy has replaced Wagner units with regular army forces. Inside the city itself, Wagner fighters remain,” Maliar wrote in comments on the Telegram app.

Prigozhin said in a video that the withdrawal of his units had begun early on Thursday and that the handover of Wagner positions would continue until June 1.

Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern military command, said the number of Russian attacks in the area had fallen in the last three days, and that there had been two military engagements in the last 24 hours, though shelling continued.

“We can definitely note a reduction in attacks, and possibly this is linked to their regrouping. It is clear that we have inflicted heavy losses and they need this (to regroup),” he said.

Maliar said Russia was also reinforcing its positions on the flanks of Bakhmut and shelling Ukrainian forces to try to stop Ukrainian advances to the north and south of the city.

Prigozhin announced the capture of Bakhmut last week after the longest and bloodiest battle of the war.