LONDON - The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has said in a rare interview that it could take two years for Moscow to control the whole of two eastern Ukrainian regions whose capture it has stated as a key goal of the war.
The comments provided a rare glimpse into Russian expectations of the likely duration of the conflict, from a man whose private army is at the centre of some of the fiercest fighting. “There are many roads out and fewer roads in. Ukrainian troops are well-trained... and like any large city it is impossible to capture it from head-on. We are managing very well.”
An image taken from handout footage released on Feb 6 shows Mr Yevgeny Prigozhin inside the cockpit of a military Su-24 bomber plane over an unidentified location, in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. PHOTO: REUTERS