Ukrainian paratroopers destroyed dozens of Wagner’s assault groups in one night

A group of Ukrainian paratroopers defending Bakhmut eliminated hundreds of Wagner Group mercenaries in one night according to early reports from Ukraine’s media. 

Yulia Kirienko from Television Service of News reported that while defending a key road on the southern approaches to Bakhmut, Ukraine’s 80th Airborne Division destroyed fifteen different groups of Wagernites who were trying to storm the defender's position. 

"The armed forces of Ukraine are holding Bakhmut, despite the fact that the invaders are trying to take control of the roads leading to the city," Kirienko wrote. 

“Our defense forces managed to push the enemy back from the southern outskirts. In one night, they destroyed 15 groups of Wagnerites who were trying to storm positions,” Kirienko added.

Artillerymen were brought in to help finish off the remnants of Wagner’s assault groups, and according to Kirienko, they used drones to help guide their shells against the enemy. 

Kirienko said it only took Ukrainian forces “a few days” to completely smash the enemy “to the ground” after they resisted their advance. 

“We looked up at night and there was such a surprise, a bunch of tops in different directions,” an artillery commander of Ukraine’s 08th Airborne Division said. 

“From ten to half past six, we cut off these groups,” the artillery commander added.  “Then it was after the interception that it was 15 groups of Wagnerites.”

The artillery group lost their quadcopter in the battle but were able to successfully halt the Russian advance, which destroyed a lot of enemy equipment as well as an ammunition dump—though none of this information has been independently verified. 

“They faced starvation with shells,” said the commander of the paratrooper unit Misha, which was the group involved in defending Bakhmut’s southern approaches.

Kirienko noted that because Wagner lacked the right equipment for their assaults, most of their attacks were composed of soldiers without support from heavy armor. 

“For the most part, the Wagnerites attack with manpower and try to push through our positions,” wrote Kirienko, though the journalist provided no proof for their statement. 

While it may seem like Ukrainian propaganda to say that Wagner’s forces are attacking with just soldiers and without armored support, the mercenary group's founder—Yevgeny Prigozhin—may have provided proof that things aren’t going well for his mercenaries in a March 5th video statement. 

"If Wagner retreats from Bakhmut now, the whole front will collapse," Prigozhin said on his Telegram channel according to a Reuters translation from Nick Sartov. "The situation will not be sweet for all military formations protecting Russian interests."

Reuters was not able to verify where the video was taken but added that Prigozhin said his troops “worried that the government wanted to set them up as possible scapegoats if Russia lost the war,” and referenced Wagner’s ammunition shortages. 

In mid-February, The Washington Post’s Andreas Kluth ran a story on Wagner’s human waves tactics, quoting one Wagner soldier—Andrei Medvedev—as saying he was told by his commanders to: “Keep going until you’re killed.” So there may be some truth to the story being told by Ukraine’s 80th Airborne Division.