We publish a request from the editors of RuNews24 and the answer:

Dear Yevgeny Viktorovich, the controversy around Bakhmut does not subside in the media. The United States demands that the President of Ukraine leave the city, while Volodymyr Zelensky himself, despite heavy losses, says that Bakhmut must be kept. In addition, in his interview with Al Arabiya TV channel, Zelensky said that now all the forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are being thrown into preparations for a large-scale counteroffensive by Ukraine. Tell us, please, how do you see the near future at the front?

We publish a comment by Evgeny Prigozhin:

Let’s break this question down into its components. The first is Bakhmut, the Bakhmut meat grinder. Our task is to grind the Ukrainian army, not to give them the opportunity to gather in a counteroffensive. We are doing this more than successfully, and I can rate the actions of my guys “five points”.

And for myself “three with a minus”, because it was necessary to grind more so that not a single living Ukrainian soldier was left.

But as soon as we finish taking Bakhmut, as soon as we drive the last soldier out of it or destroy them on the territory of Bakhmut, the Ukrainian counteroffensive will begin that day. I figuratively say “on this day”, it can be plus a few days, plus a week. But very close, because the Ukrainians will put up a huge number of troops.

Regarding our offensive after the capture of Bakhmut, which was announced a month ago by the Ministry of Defense, I can say that today we can do it, and today no one is preventing us from entering the operational space, because the situation around Bakhmut within a radius of 10 kilometers will not change after taking it. It will be exactly the same. Those groups of Ukrainian troops that are now inside Bakhmut and are being attacked by us occupy an area of actually two kilometers.

Therefore, they in no way interfere with anyone around now, and the operational space right up to Warsaw is already completely open, if we assume that it will be after the capture of Bakhmut. After we take Bakhmut, of course, the Ukrainian army will take advantage of the fact that the Wagner PMC is drawn into the city, will cut us from both sides from the flanks. And so I squeal about the flanks. Further, as soon as Bakhmut is taken, Zelensky will need the greatest victory. And for this he will launch the very counteroffensive.

Why hasn’t it started yet? The first is because it rains, and absolutely everything gets stuck in the fields, you can only use roads exclusively. Even “pickup trucks” will stick, not to mention tanks.

The second factor is May 9th. Zelensky’s task is to crap the holiday for us, because we have a mental dependence on holidays. We need to take Palmyra on March 8, another city on February 23. And all events should be done by May 9, because we ourselves cannot do anything, and we are constantly trying to cling to the memory of our ancestors, and this has been the case for many decades. Therefore, May 9 is also a serious date for Zelensky. Or he will put one more reference in the list of intelligence information.

Every time he talks about the need to advance, we take certain steps and tighten our muscles as much as we can. He fixes it and clearly understands our defense. I have already said that this is the principle of a boy who shouted “Help!” all the time in the water.

So the vectors converge: the capture of Bakhmut, the counteroffensive, the supply of foreign equipment, our complete carelessness – everything converges into one point. Zelensky needs to strike without a miss, and no matter how he is criticized, he does it in a highly professional manner. And we need to do the same. And while we go around measuring our penises, we chew snot and celebrate holidays.