The owner of the Russian Wagner Group private military contractor actively involved in the fighting in Ukraine has predicted that the war could drag on for years.
Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video interview released late on Friday that it could take 18 months to two years for Russia to fully secure control of Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland of Donbas.
He added that the war could go on for three years if Moscow decides to capture broader territories east of the Dnieper River.
The statement from Mr Prigozhin, a millionaire who has close links to President Putin, marked a recognition of the difficulties that the Kremlin has faced in the campaign.
Meanwhile, on Friday, Russian launched massive strikes across Ukraine, hiting power facilities in six regions with missiles and drones, causing blackouts across most of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the transport of foreign weapons and ammunition by rail to the battlegrounds had been blocked as a result of the attack.
The latest Russian attacks came as Presiden Volodymyr Zelensky ended a tour of European allies where he was enthusiastically received but secured no public promises of the fighter jets he sought.
“London, Paris, Brussels – everywhere I spoke these past few days about how to strengthen our soldiers. There are very important understandings and we received good signals,” he said in his nightly video address.
