Prigozhin regularly accuses the General Staff of not sending enough ammunition to his elements fighting on the front lines in the Battle of Bakhmut, with the intention of depriving them of a victory that the regular army cannot.
The head of the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, threatened on Friday to withdraw his fighters, starting May 10, from the city of Bakhmut, the center of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, due to a lack of ammunition, accusing the army of withholding ammunition from its fighters so that they would not achieve victory.
“We were on our way to take control of the city of Bakhmut before May 9, and when the military bureaucrats saw this they stopped (ammunition) supplies,” Prigozhin said in a video released by his office.
“Therefore, as of May 10, 2023, we will withdraw from Bakhmut,” he added.
Prigozhin confirmed his refusal that “my men, without ammunition, suffer unnecessary and unjustified losses.” He continued, “We are waiting for an order to leave Bakhmut. We will remain in Bakhmut until the ninth of May (…) After that, we will go to the rear camps.”
The warning comes after weeks of growing tensions between the Wagner Group and the Russian military.
Prigozhin regularly accuses the General Staff of not sending enough ammunition to his elements fighting on the front lines in the Battle of Bakhmut, with the intention of depriving them of a victory that the regular army cannot.
In another extremely dangerous video clip published Thursday-Friday night, Prigozhin held Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov specifically responsible for the losses incurred by Wagner.
Prigozhin appeared in the video while wandering among dozens of corpses, which he confirmed were of Wagner fighters who fell during the battles.
“They died so you could poison us behind your desks!” he said.
“Shuigu! Gerasimov! Where are my damned shells?!,” he added loudly, evil flying from his eyes, before hurling insult after insult at the defense minister and chief of staff.
Wagner has suffered heavy losses in recent months in its attempt to control Bakhmut. The paramilitary group occupied most of the city, but was unable to capture the last Ukrainian positions. The Kremlin denied the existence of any tension in the ranks of the Russian forces, but Prigozhin’s statements prove the opposite.
