Jonas von Matern is now making his twenty-fourth trip to Ukraine, where he will hand over materiel and vehicles to Ukrainian front units.
The information about the withdrawal comes from the combat units at Bachmut, with whom he has daily contact. Only yesterday he was in Tjasiv Yar, about a mile from the city.
Officials have not yet acknowledged a full-scale withdrawal from the city. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on Wednesday on her Telegram channel that Ukraine still controls an area in the southwest corner of the city.
"It's still a small symbolic building that the Russians haven't occupied. But it's not like there are Ukrainian forces left there. On the other hand, they can control the terrain with artillery," says von Matern.
The counterattack continues
For a couple of weeks, Ukraine has retaken areas outside the city, although the advance has lost momentum. The goal is to encircle Bachmut and cut off Russian supply lines, according to von Matern.
"The loss of Bachmut is not something that the Ukrainians think about. They only think about the advance, that now they are finally starting to take back the important terrain, that is, the upland terrain north and south of Bachmut.
Already last weekend, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin declared that his troops had captured the city. At the same time, he announced that his mercenaries would withdraw from the city and hand over the positions to the Russian army.
"They can't get on the other side of the city because there are open fields that they have to pass. And Ukraine dominates that terrain with artillery fire and drones. So it's hard for the Russians to keep going, and that's why Wagner is keen to leave this and pull out. Because it's just suicide to sit in these destroyed houses and wait for the next artillery shell to come," von Matern said.