 Vargna groups withdrawal from the front will allow Ukraine to launch counterattacks. Yevgeny Prigozin, the financier of the Vargna group, said that after the first of June, his mercenaries would not be present along the entire contact line in Ukraine for at least two months. The Institute for the Study of War believes that the Vargna private military company may miss the main stages of Ukraine's counteroffensive. On the 20th of May 2023, Prigozin recorded a video against the backdrop of the ruins of Bakhmut in which he declared the complete capture of the city by mercenaries of the Vargna private military company. According to Prigozin, his mercenaries had been storming Bakhmut for 224 days and in total they had been fighting for 427 days, so by the 25th of May that would inspect Bakhmut and then leave the city, handing it over to the Russian Ministry of Defense. On the 21st of May, Prigozin's press service shared his response to the live 24 outlet regarding further assaults in the vicinity of Bakhmut. The Vargna did not advance or seize any territories. We have captured all the territories we promised to seize to the last square centimeter. That is why we are not going to Kormov and we are not going to Ivanovsky. As I said, we are handing over our positions to the Ministry of Defense and leaving the war zone on the 25th of May. We have been fighting for 428 days. All tasks that will continue to be performed are carried out by the brave units of the Ministry of Defense. We are going to the field camps. From the 1st of June, not a single Vargna group soldier will be on the contact line until we are re-informed, re-equipped and re-trained. All reports that the Vargna private military company is storming something will be fake in the next two months. That goes in said.