Massive incendiary attack in Bakhmut shows Russia's 'scorched earth' tactics have turned the eastern Ukrainian city to rubble

The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, already the site of heavy fighting, was bombed in an apparent incendiary attack on Friday, highlighting Russia's brutal "scorched earth" tactics in the war just hours after news broke that Wagner Group mercenaries aiding Putin would be withdrawn from the region.

"The fires came hours after Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin threatened to withdraw Wagner forces from Bakhmut," William Courtney, a retired US Ambassador and a senior fellow at the nonprofit defense think tank RAND Corporation, told Insider in an emailed statement. "The Kremlin or Prigozhin might have decided to resort to incendiary weapons as a last roll of the dice to force out Ukrainian troops."

Videos circulated on social media early Friday, showing the Ukrainian city ablaze with a glow that prompted military analysts to suggest chemical weapons had been used. White phosphorous weapons have been deployed by Russians against Ukrainian targets since shortly after the invasion began.

"The use of these horrific arms may violate the 1983 Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons. But this would not be Russia's first war crime," Courtney told Insider, referencing shocking incidents at Bucha, near Kyiv, adding that resorting to incendiary weapons will "further diminish international respect for Russia," and could provide an additional reason for the establishment of an international war crimes tribunal.

Rob Lee, a senior fellow for the Foreign Policy Research Institute, tweeted alongside video of the attack that "Russia has been using incendiary munitions in Bakhmut for months."

The FPRI did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

"It's just hell," a telegram account for the city of Bakhmut posted of the situation in the region, which has been the site of bloody battles as Ukrainians fight to keep Wagner mercenaries from taking control of the eastern city. "Our soldiers are keeping the situation under control as best they can."

Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine's commander of ground forces, said Russia's "scorched earth" tactics in Bakhmut have pushed Ukrainian troops out of the city center and have forced them to rely on precarious supply routes to deliver arms and personnel, The Wall Street Journal reported last month.

However, as one of the longest and bloodiest battles in the war, Russian forces have lost at least five soldiers for every Ukrainian soldier killed while defending Bakhmut, a military official with NATO told CNN.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group, has compared the ongoing Bakhmut battle to a "meat grinder," Insider previously reported, with the mercenary leader acknowledging that his men were dying at extremely high rates as they dealt with ammunition shortages. He suggested in March that Russia's entire front line would collapse if his fighters fail to secure Bakhmut.

The Friday bombings on the city began just hours after Prigozhin announced plans to withdraw his army-for-hire from the front lines by May 10, blaming Russian leader Vladimir Putin for starving his men and forcing them to fight with insufficient munitions.

In a video posted to Telegram, Prigozhin launched a tirade against Putin, who he called an "animal," and said military leaders who wouldn't give his troops ammunition would "have their insides eaten in hell."

Representatives for the Pentagon, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, and the Government of the Russian Federation did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.