The city of Bahmat in the east of Ukraine is not large, with a population of about 70,000. Given the intense and prolonged fighting that began in the summer of last year over this city, the city’s failure has symbolic significance for the Russian-Ukrainian strategy. On Friday, 5 May, the local time of the founder of the Russian Wagner mercenaries group, Yevgenny Prigzin, suddenly announced that the Wagner forces would leave Bahmutt on 10 May and that the Bahmuth position would be handed over ...