Moment Putin’s forces stage humiliating retreat from besieged Bakhmut as despot marked ‘Victory Day’ in Red Square | The Sun

THIS is the moment Vladimir Putin's troops staged a humiliating retreat from the besieged city of Bakhmut.

The tyrant's forces embarrassingly fled as he attempted to rally his soldiers during his Victory Day speech in Moscow's Red Square.

Putin said on Tuesday: "Your combat activities now are of paramount importance. 

“The country's security depends on you today as does the future of our statehood and our people.”

But as Putin delivered his speech to open a diminished parade, members of his 72nd Separate Motor-rifle Brigade were busy abandoning their positions on the southwestern outskirts of Bakhmut.

The battered city in the Donetsk region has seen some of the fiercest fighting of the war so far as brave Ukrainian defenders vow to push out Russian soldiers.

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Putin's troops have been trying to break the gruelling stalemate, but a new clip appears to confirm reports that the tyrant's regular forces "turned and ran".

Footage shows Russian forces fleeing the frontline after being overwhelmed by Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade.

The retreat had been first alleged by Kremlin henchman Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner private army, as he blasted the performance of the Russian armed forces.

According to Ukraine, its defenders killed 64 Russians and left 87 more wounded while capturing many PoWs on the southwestern outskirts of Bakhmut.

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Several depots of Russian ammunition including mortars were destroyed along with armoured personnel carriers.

Pro-Putin forces have spent months inching forwards in a stalemate battle that has cost thousands of lives on both sides. 

Now with Ukraine poised to stage a counter-offensive, Volodymyr Zelensky’s troops have scored a significant local victory. 

The Russians seen fleeing are from the 72nd Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade – as Prigozhin had warned. 

Colonel Andriy Biletsky of the Ukrainian national guards said: “The advance of the [Ukrainian] 3rd Assault Brigade defeated units of the  [Russian] 72nd Brigade.

"The entire area was completely liberated from the Russian occupying forces.”

In a video message he told his Ukrainian troops: “It is a great honour to fight beside you, to serve with you, to command you.

“You are real warriors, real heroes who have shown what the Ukrainian fighting spirit is. Glory to Ukraine.”

The main Russian push in Bakhmut has been by Wagner forces, mainly mercenaries, volunteers and convicts freed from jail to fight by Putin.

But Prigozhin threatened to today pull his forces out of Bakhmut due to a lack of ammunition supplies by the Russian defence ministry. 

He was threatened with treason if he did so.

A furious Prigozhin savaged Putin’s forces and accused Russian commanders appointed by Putin of allowing their soldiers to die in vain.

He raged: “One of the Ministry of Defence’s detachments ran away from one of the flanks. They abandoned their positions.

“All of them ran away” – leaving a key area of the frontline exposed.

“This is not the problem of soldiers, but of those who manage them and set their tasks."

Prigozhin, nicknamed Putin's chef, has repeatedly warned of the failures in Russia’s high command, suggesting it can lead to losing the war to Ukraine.

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He added: "A fish rots from its head, and if decision-making is done through the ****, soldiers leave because there is no point to die in vain."

Moscow has not commented on the reports from either side that its 72nd Separate Motor-rifle Brigade had abandoned its positions.

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