Wagner chief says mercenary group to hand Bakhmut to Russian military

May 25 (UPI) -- Wagner mercenary group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin has announced that his forces are withdrawing from Bakhmut after seizing the city and will hand over their positions to regular units of the Russian army by June 1.

"We are withdrawing units from Bakhmut today," Prigozhin said in a video posted to Telegram.

"We'll hand over our positions, ammunition, everything including dry rations, to the troops," Prigozhin said.

BBC Verify geolocated the footage to confirm it was filmed in the eastern part of Bakhmut.

Prior to declaring the city taken, Prigozhin made an appeal for more ammunition in a video showing dead fighters laid out in a field and denounced the Russian Defense Ministry for insufficient support.

Prigozhin declared that his forces had captured Bakhmut on Saturday.

"The operation to capture Bakhmut lasted 224 days," Prigozhin said in a Telegram post.

While Wagner appears to have seized most or all of the city, Ukrainian forces have advanced along the city's flanks onto higher ground, which could leave Russian troops in Bakhmut vulnerable to artillery fire.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar confirmed that Wagner forces were being replaced with regular army units but also claimed Thursday that Ukrainian fighters were still holding onto enclaves in Bakhmut's southwest.

"The enemy has replaced Wagner units in the suburbs with regular army troops. Inside the town proper Wagner forces are still present," Maliar said in a Telegram post.

While figures are impossible to confirm unnamed Ukrainian Military sources told the New York Times that about 20,000 Russian fighters died in the conquest of the small city.

Earlier this week Prigozhin conveyed similar fatality rates, saying he had lost about 20,000 men taking the city.

The fall of Bakhmut after 10 months of Russian assaults, at heavy costs, has been overshadowed by an incursion that saw Russian opposition fighters fighting battles with Russian government forces within Russia's Belgorod region.

The Russian military released footage purporting to show airstrikes against opposition fighters in Belgorod Oblast.

Ukraine has denied any connection to the incursion.