Russian Mercenary Leader Struggles to Maintain Power Amidst Defeats and Fabrications.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner PMC, is creating pretexts to explain why his mercenaries cannot complete the encirclement of Bakhmut. He claims that Ukrainian forces are preparing to launch counteroffensives in five separate directions, likely to justify the Wagner Group's inability to complete an envelopment or encirclement of Bakhmut. ISW experts believe that Prigozhin likely seeks to frame Wagnerite activities as securing flanks in preparation for Ukrainian counteroffensives.