Russian Defense Ministry Wants To Capture Vuhledar To Compete With Wagner PMC - British Intelligence

The Ministry of Defense of Russia persistently demands success in Vuhledar - partly due to competition with the Wagner mercenaries, who achieved a tactical advance in the direction of Bakhmut.

This is stated in the intelligence review of the British Ministry of Defense on Thursday.

Russian attempts to storm Vuhledar are said to have almost certainly slowed over the past week. This follows repeated, extremely costly failed attacks over the previous three months.

One of the factors of Russia's heavy losses in this sector was Ukraine's successful use of remotely controlled anti-tank mine (RAAM) systems. RAAM is a special artillery projectile that disperses anti-tank mines at a distance of up to 17 km from the installation.

In some cases, Ukrainian troops also launched mines behind advancing Russian units, causing chaos when Russian vehicles tried to retreat.

The only notable tactical success of Russian forces has recently been achieved in the Bakhmut sector, which is dominated by mercenary forces of the Wagner group, who are currently engaged in public enmity with the Russian Ministry of Defense.

"There is a real possibility that the Russian Ministry of Defense is pushing for success at Vuhledar - in part because it wants its own successes to rival those of Wagner," British intelligence said.

We will remind, on March 14, the General Staff reported that the occupiers resumed their offensive in the Vuhledar area, but without success.

In addition, the border guards repelled the assault and captured the Wagner mercenaries in the direction of Bakhmut.