After declaring victory in Bakhmut, brutal Wagner mercenaries are set to go and destroy another city as Vladimir Putin's 'special military operation' rumbles on.

Head of the group Yevgeny Prigozhin said that 20,000 of its fighters had died in the eastern Ukrainian city, and that he has ordered the withdrawl of units.

The group will transfer control of the city to the regular Russian Army, and its fighters will be sent to 'camps, rehabilitated and re-equipped'.

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After that, they will be ready to perform "the heaviest combat missions," according to Russian outlet MKRU.

Retired Russian colonel Rustem Klupov explained what combat missions the Wagner assault squads could perform after their rehab period, saying they could pop up 'from Syria to Kyiv'.

"I do not rule out that Wagner PMCs will now be given the opportunity to rest and there will be no Africa, and they will be thrown into the liberation of Odessa or Nikolaev. Or Kyiv. Not excluded," he said.

"The fact is that their reputation is already such that the Ukrainian army begins to shake from one name – from impotent anger and fear at the same time."

He said this feared group really need a holiday so they can lick their wounds. "It is necessary to give the units the opportunity to reorganize, rest, go on vacation, heal wounds and sores," he said.

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He said each soldier needs at least a month to rest and gain strength.

Klupov also said the brigade are ready to be called on at any time, from any place.

"Wagner does not cease to be our operational-strategic reserve, which can always be quickly pulled out from anywhere in the world, even from Mars, and they will fight," he said.

He added that the capture of Bakhmut wasn't of great 'strategic importance', but it was more of an 'ideological' victory.

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