The USA believes that the businessman and founder of the Wagner PMC Evgeny Prigozhin is interested in obtaining control over salt and gypsum deposits in the Bakhmut area, for which Russian forces have been fierce for six months.
Reuters, citing a representative of the White House, reports that Washington has reason to believe that “obsession with Bakhmut is due to cash motifs.” In the area of Bakhmut is, in particular, the largest salt deposit of Europe with an area of 179 square meters. km.
According to Washington, out of almost 50 thousand PMC fighters who take part in the war, more than 4 thousand were killed and 10 thousand were injured. More than a thousand mercenaries died only in battles for Bakhmut from late November to early December last year, a representative of the White House said.