which is exactly what they said about Bakhmut a year ago, and that fell to the same strategy.

Wagner captured Bakhmut and Prigozhin sits dead, (probably) assassinated by the Russians he served. Prigozhin will never be a problem in this war again. There is no replacing Prigozhin or his elite Wagner troops.

The quality of Russian soldiers is dropping off significantly. 1st Guards Tank Army has been defeated. VDV is taking horrific losses (but still seems to be able to be fielded). Wagner is virtually collapsed, driven to the point where they attempted a coup.

I think these kinds of "trades", Bakhmut for Wagner, are well in Ukraine's advantage.