The release of the video comes after Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, criticized the Russian Defense Ministry over the lack of military supplies and ammunition in Bakhmut as he vowed to hold Shoigu accountable in an expletive-filled speech.
The Russian Ministry of Defense published photos and videos of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspecting armored vehicles, which are supposed to be sent to the front line in Ukraine before Kiev may launch an imminent attack against Russian forces.
The publication of the video comes after Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group, criticized the Russian Ministry of Defense for the lack of military supplies and ammunition in Bakhmut. . Prigozhin had previously threatened to withdraw his fighters from Bakhmut, where they are fighting on the front lines, because he did not receive ammunition from the army. Experts confirmed that if Wagner fighters withdraw from Bakhmut, this will put the Russian army in a critical position at a time when Ukraine is preparing to launch a large-scale attack.
In a related context, Russia announced the evacuation of 18 towns it occupies in the Zaporizhia region of southern Ukraine. “In the past few days, the enemy has intensified its shelling of towns close to the front line,” Yevgeny Paletsky, the local official of the Zaporizhia region appointed from Russia, wrote on Telegram.
He added, “For this reason, a decision was taken to remove children with their families in the first degree, in addition to the elderly, the disabled and hospital patients, from enemy fire and transfer them to the region,” stressing that the evacuations of these would be “temporary.” Among the areas concerned is the city of Energodar, where the Zaporizhya nuclear plant is located, which has been controlled by the Russian army since March 2022 and has been repeatedly bombed.
