Hanna Maliar made the statement on Telegram.
"The intensity of the enemy's offensive has significantly decreased, as they are replacing Wagner troops with regular units and trying to stabilize the defense in this area. Our troops are making this process much more difficult for the enemy," the military said.
At the same time, the intensity of artillery shelling by the Russian army has not decreased.
Maliar writes that Wagner is withdrawing its units from Bakhmut, and regular Russian troops are replacing them. In particular, Russian units are being replaced in the northern part of the suburb.
"Our troops are controlling the outskirts of Bakhmut in the southwestern part near the airplane monument,” emphasized the Deputy Defense Minister.
At the same time, Russia is trying to reinforce and build up units south of Bakhmut.
"As of yesterday and this morning, there is no advance on the flanks due to other tasks," added Maliar.
Relations between Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russia’s top military leadership have long been tense. Thus, on February 21, he stated that he had repeatedly complained about the lack of adequate ammunition supplies to his militants, publicly criticized and scandalized officials of the Russian Defense Ministry, including its head Sergei Shoigu. Recently, the founder of Wagner PMC said that he and other high-ranking Wagner militants were completely disconnected from the Russian government's communication line and had all passes to Russian ministries blocked.
On March 13, the Institute for the Study of War stated that the conflict between the Russian Defense Ministry and Yevgeny Prigozhin had reached its climax amid the battle for Bakhmut.
On May 15, the founder of the Russian Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, allegedly offered Ukraine to disclose data on the positions of Russian troops for attacks in exchange for the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Bakhmut.
Experts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) suggest that the founder of Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is undermining the regime of Russian leader Vladimir Putin because of the unreleased reward "for the capture of Bakhmut."