Russian private military contractor says fighting in Ukraine could last for years

Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) – The owner of the Wagner Group, a Russian private military contractor heavily involved in the fighting in Ukraine, has predicted that the war could drag on for years.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video interview released late Friday that it could take Russia 18 months to two years to fully control Ukraine’s eastern industrial center, the Donbass. He added that the war could continue for three years if Moscow decides to seize wider territories east of the Dnieper.

The announcement by Prigozhin, a millionaire with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and nicknamed “Putin’s Chef” for lucrative food contracts with the Kremlin, marked an acknowledgment of the difficulties the Kremlin faced during the election campaign that it had initially anticipated. ended within weeks when Russian troops invaded Ukraine on 24 February.

In the fall, Russia suffered a series of humiliating setbacks when the Ukrainian military launched successful counter-offensives to retake vast territories in the east and south. The Kremlin did not make predictions about how long the hostilities could last, saying that the so-called “special military operation” would continue until its goals were achieved.

Russian forces have focused their efforts on Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk regions, which make up the Donbas region where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014.

Ukrainian and Western officials have warned that Russia could launch a new wide-ranging offensive to try to turn the tide of the conflict as the war nears its one-year mark. But Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Chernyak told the Kyiv Post that “the Russian command does not have sufficient resources for large-scale offensive operations.”

“The main goal of the Russian troops remains to achieve at least some tactical success in eastern Ukraine,” he said.

Prigozhin said that Wagner group mercenaries continue fierce battles for control of the Ukrainian stronghold of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. He acknowledged that Ukrainian troops are putting up fierce resistance.

As Russian troops step up their attacks in Donbas, Moscow is also seeking to demoralize Ukrainians by leaving them without heat and water during the harsh winter.

On Friday, Russia launched its 14th round of massive strikes against Ukrainian energy facilities and other vital infrastructure. High-voltage infrastructure facilities in the eastern, western and southern regions were affected, resulting in power outages in some areas.

Ukrainian energy company Ukrenergo said on Saturday the situation was “difficult but manageable,” adding that backup was needed to maintain power supply, but noting that power rationing would continue in some areas. The head of Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear operator Energoatom, Petr Kotin, said on Saturday that after the repair of two nuclear reactors, more electricity will enter the country’s energy system.

General Valery Zaluzhny, Commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said Russian forces launched 71 cruise missiles, 35 S-300 missiles and seven Shahed drones between Thursday evening and Friday afternoon, adding that Ukrainian air defenses shot down 61 cruise missiles and five drones.

Ukrainian authorities reported more killer drone attacks later on Friday. The Ukrainian Air Force said that in the evening the military shot down 20 Shahed drones.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Friday’s strikes hit all of their intended targets, shutting down Ukrainian defense factories and blocking supplies of Western arms and ammunition. The assertion cannot be independently verified.

Late Friday evening, Russian military bloggers and some Ukrainian news outlets released a video showing a naval drone strike on a strategic railroad bridge in the Odessa region. The grainy video shows a fast-moving object on the surface of the water approaching a bridge in Zatoka, about 50 kilometers southwest of Odessa, and explode with a massive explosion.

The authenticity of the video could not be verified, but the Ukrainian military on Saturday confirmed the use of maritime drones by Russian forces.

Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander Zaluzhny said in an online statement that he expressed concern about the use of such drones in a telephone conversation with U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley on Saturday, adding that it “poses a threat.” to civil navigation in the Black Sea”.

The attack marks Russia’s first combat use of a maritime drone in a conflict. Igor Korotchenko, a retired colonel in the Russian military who frequently commentates on the conflict on Russian state television, said on Saturday that such drones should be equipped with more powerful explosives to cause more damage.

The bridge, hit by Russian missiles at the start of the war, serves as a rail link to Romania, a key conduit for Western arms supplies.

In other events, the governor of Russia’s Kursk region, along the border with Ukraine, said a group of construction workers had been hit by Ukrainian shelling, killing one and wounding another.

The governor of another Russian border region, Belgorod, reported on the shelling of the town of Shebekino, saying two houses were damaged but no one was hurt.