A communication operation while the fighting does not subside. The head of the Russian Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigojine, appeared on Monday aboard what he presented as an Su-24 bomber returning from a bombing raid in Bakhmout, the epicenter of the fighting in eastern Ukraine.
In one video, the businessman-turned-warlord is outfitted in a pilot’s helmet and mask, while a nightscape can be seen through the window as the plane lands.
“We landed, we bombed Bakhmout,” Prigojine said in this short video broadcast on Telegram by his press service.
Yevgeny Prigojine also challenged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying he would board a MiG-29 fighter on Tuesday. “If you want, we will meet in heaven. If your device takes over, you (Bakhmout) recover, otherwise we will go to the Dnieper (river), ”he assures.
Wagner branded a ‘terrorist’ by Ukraine
This video is released on the day that the Ukrainian parliament passed a resolution describing the Wagner group as a “terrorist organization”, whose mercenaries are fighting on the front lines alongside the Russian army.
“We are preparing to destroy Wagner as a component of international terrorism,” the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriy Iermak, said on Telegram.
Ukrainian deputies “also adopted a request to international organizations and parliaments on the recognition of Russian private military companies as terrorist organizations,” said David Arakhamia, leader of the presidential faction in parliament.
A “complicated” situation for Ukrainians
Wagner’s men are notably on the offensive at Bakhmout, which Moscow has been trying to take since the summer, at the cost of heavy losses on both sides and extensive destruction. The Ukrainian defense there has been weakened since recent Russian territorial gains, including in particular the town of Soledar further north.
Zelensky acknowledged on Saturday that the situation “is getting complicated” for the Ukrainians at various points on the front, and in particular at Bakhmout. Prigojine informed him on Sunday “tough fights” for every street.
Source: BFM TV
