Wagner begins pulling out of Bakhmut, handing control to Russian army
A look back at 25 May 2023, when Wagner Group forces started leaving the Donetsk Oblast city and passing it to Russia's Ground Forces.
What did it mean when Wagner Group forces began withdrawing from Bakhmut on 25 May 2023? As reported at the time, the fighters started leaving the city in Donetsk Oblast and transferring control to the Russian Ground Forces.
The handover marked a change in who held the front line in a city that had been the focus of the Battle of Bakhmut, a major engagement between the Russian Armed Forces and the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the eastern front of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Some military analysts later regarded it as the bloodiest battle since World War II.
The reports from 25 May 2023 described the start of a withdrawal rather than its completion, and they gave the transfer of control to the Russian Ground Forces as its direction. The date stands as the point at which Wagner formations began to step back from the city they had been fighting over.
