Wagner Group’s, Yevgeny Prigozhin, called for the Kremlin to declare an end to the war and concentrate on territory already gained.
On Friday, Prigozhin’s press service suggested it’s time to declare victory.
“For the authorities and for society as a whole, it is necessary to put some kind of bold full stop in the ‘special military operation,’” said the Wagner chief.
“The ideal option is to announce the end of the special military operation, to inform everyone that Russia has achieved the results that it planned, and in a sense, we have really achieved them. We have ground a huge number of soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and can report to ourselves that our task has been completed.”
“Theoretically, Russia has already received this full stop by destroying a large part of the active male population of Ukraine, by intimidating another part of it that has fled to Europe.”
“Russia has cut off the Azov Sea and a large chunk of the Black Sea, seized a fat chunk of Ukraine’s territory, and created a land corridor to Crimea,” and stressed that Russia can “gain a firm foothold, cling to the territories that already exist.”
But he noted that “If earlier Ukraine was part of former Russia, now it is an absolutely national-oriented state.”
This comes as Wagner has taken control of about 80% of Bakhmut.
Is it likely Putin will end the war? He said he wanted to protect the people of Eastern Ukraine from the Nazis, and now he’d be faced with a much larger threat trying to keep the land unless he conquers all of Ukraine. He believes Ukraine is Russia, and they didn’t abide by the agreement to remain neutral.
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