Wagner announces withdrawal from Bachmut days later, Washington rules out a major Russian attack on Ukraine

The head of the Russian military company Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Friday that Wagner forces will withdraw from the city of Bakhamut in eastern Ukraine on the tenth of this month, while the Russian emergency services said that a drone attack targeted the Isky oil refinery in the south of the country, and US intelligence ruled out that Moscow will launch a major attack on Ukraine during the current year.

The head of Wagner considered that "fighting without ammunition and suffering losses among Wagner fighters in Bachmut is useless," referring his decision to withdraw his forces from the Ukrainian city after 5 days to the Russian Defense Ministry's failure to provide ammunition for Wagner fighters, adding that the latter will hand over its positions in Bachmut to the Russian army.

Prigozhin posted a video on his Telegram account with bodies behind him that he says were members of his forces who fell in the battles of Bakhmut due to a lack of ammunition.

Prigozhin directly attacked Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff General Valery Gerasimov using obscene labels and direct insults against them for not supplying his forces with the required ammunition, which could cause the death of a large number of them.

Russian refinery

Today's incident at the Ilski oil refinery did not result in injuries, the RIA Novosti news agency reported, adding that the fire had been extinguished.

It was not clear who was behind the attack, although Russian media reported that the fire was sparked by a Ukrainian drone attack on the facility.

Ukrainian officials do not usually claim responsibility for such attacks inside Russian territory, though they sometimes celebrate them.

The production capacity of the Isky refinery, near the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in the Krasnodar region, is about 6.6 million tons per year.

The attack was the second of its kind on the Elski oil facility in 24 hours, as the facility was attacked on Thursday by a Ukrainian drone, which led to a fire in a fuel tank.

Russia has blamed Ukraine for a series of attacks last week on freight trains and oil depots in western Russia and Crimea, which Russia has annexed since 2014.

On Thursday, Moscow accused Kiev and Washington of involvement in what is believed to be a drone attack on the Kremlin building two days ago aimed at killing President Vladimir Putin, which Ukraine and the United States have denied.

Commenting on the incident at the Russian presidential building, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that the attack of the two marches on the Kremlin is a hostile act, pointing out that Russia will respond with specific and concrete steps.

Lavrov added in a statement that Kiev would not try to attack the Kremlin without notifying its masters in the West. Lavrov pointed out that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a puppet, as he described.

However, Minister Lavrov expressed his country's readiness for dialogue with the West.

U.S. Intelligence

U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines has ruled out that Russian forces will be able to launch a major offensive against Ukraine this year, even if the Ukrainian counteroffensive is not fully successful.

During a hearing on Thursday before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, Haines said Ukraine may not be able to confront Russia if most Western military aid to it stops.

The U.S. intelligence official also said Russia was unlikely to use its nuclear weapons.

U.S. Director of National Intelligence says Russia is unlikely to use its nuclear weapons (French)

Observers say this signals Moscow's commitment to restraint even as it suffers heavy losses in the war in Ukraine and the recent drone attack on the Kremlin.

Following the outbreak of the Ukraine war on February 24, 2022, Russian officials hinted at the possibility of using nuclear weapons if Moscow was exposed to a threat to its national security.

At the end of last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country might formally consider adding the possibility of a first pre-emptive nuclear strike to disarm an adversary to its military doctrine, just days after warning that a nuclear war was increasing, blaming the West.

War developments

The governor of Ukraine's Kherson province reported the continuation of Russian bombardment throughout the territory of this southern province.

The governor of Kherson said the Russians bombed the city center and villages and towns along the frontline, noting that Russian aircraft dropped high-precision guided bombs on a number of targets in infrastructure.

At the same time, the governor urged residents to stay away from the places of shelling and to stay in safe places.

The Ukrainian military also reported that its forces repelled about 60 Russian attacks in the eastern directions of Backhamout, Marinka and Liman.

The army said fierce fighting was taking place in Bakhammut and Marinka, and that Russian forces carried out unsuccessful offensive operations on a number of axes in Bakhamout, especially the Markov and Bohdanievka regions.

The Ukrainian capital Kiev came under Russian aerial bombardment overnight, while the capital's authorities declared air alert and called on civilians to stay in safe places. The military administration in Kiev said explosions and fires broke out in the Solomyansky district of the capital.