The owner of Russia’s Wagner Group military contractor threatened on Friday to pull his troops out of the protracted battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut next week, accusing Russia’s military command of starving his forces of ammunition and causing them heavy losses.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, a notorious millionaire with longtime links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, claimed that Wagner had planned to capture Bakhmut by May 9.That day is a major Russian holiday marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.
Hours before releasing the statement, Prigozhin’s spokespeople published a video of him angrily demanding ammunition from Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and General Staff Chief Valery Gerasimov.In the video, Prigozhin stands in front of around 30 uniformed bodies lying on the ground. He says they are the bodies of Wagner fighters who died on Thursday alone.
He alleged that Russia’s regular army was supposed to protect the flanks as Wagner troops pushed forward but is “barely holding on to them,” deploying “tens and rarely hundreds” of troops.Russia’s Defence Ministry did not immediately comment on the claims, and it was not possible to independently verify them.
“Wagner ran out of resources to advance in early April, but we’re advancing despite the fact that the enemy’s resources outnumber ours fivefold,” Prigozhin’s statement said.
“Because of the lack of ammunition, our losses are growing exponentially every day.”
The Wagner Group has spearheaded the struggle for control of Bakhmut, which is the longest — and likely bloodiest — battle of the war.
The more than eight months of fighting there is believed to have cost thousands of lives, though neither side is saying how many.