UKRAINE: THE SITUATION 453 - MAY 20, 2023

The financier of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, declared victory in Bakhmut City on May 20 and announced his withdrawal from the city on May 25.

Prigozhin claims that Wagner Group troops fully captured Bakhmut City on May 20 and took control of the last multistory residential building in the southwest of Bakhmut near the MiG-17 monument.

Prigozhin announces that Wagner forces will take defensive positions before handing over responsibility for the city to Russian conventional forces on May 25. He actually states that Wagner forces will take an operational pause by resting and regaining their combat readiness in field training camps in unspecified areas, likely far away from the front line.

As of the time of this publication, ISW has not observed any geographic recordings to validate Prigozhin's claims. Ukrainian officials reported that Ukrainian forces were still fighting in a small section in the southwest of Bakhmut on May 20. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar states that Ukrainian forces continued to hold positions near the MiG-17 monument on May 20. The Russian Ministry of Defense has not responded to Prigozhin's claims at the time of this publication.

The complete Russian Offensive Update 453 is available directly from UNDERSTANDING WAR.

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