Russian paramilitary group Wagner threatened to retire as of May 10 from the city of Bakhmut, the epicenter of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, due to a lack of ammunition and blamed the Army and the Ministry of Defense for the situation.
The head of the group Yevgeny Prigozhinhas been accusing the Russian General Staff for months of not supplying it with enough ammunition for the paramilitaries to conquer the town where the longest battle is being fought since the start of the large-scale invasion in February of last year.
In two released videos, Prigozhin’s attacks reach an unprecedented level, exposing high tensions between Moscow’s forces.
“We were going to take the city of Bakhmut before May 9,” the day Moscow traditionally celebrates its victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, Prigozhin said in one of his videos.
“When they saw that, army bureaucrats stopped deliveries” of ammunition, he said, quoted by the AFP news agency.
“Therefore, on May 10, 2023, we will have to hand over our positions in Bakhmut to the units of the Ministry of Defense and withdraw the Wagner units to the rear camps,” he declared.
Prigozhin explained his decision by assuring that, Out of ammunition, his men face “an absurd death.”
It was not clear if his remarks were a firm decision or an ultimatum, as Wagner’s boss often makes such statements, before backing down.
Asked about it, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said he had “seen such statements in the media” but declined to comment.
“Yes, of course, we have seen (this information) in the media, but I cannot comment on it, as it is related to the development of the special military operation,” the spokesman said, using the name by which Russia refers to the invasion.
In a second video, Prigozhin directly attacked the Russian Defense MinisterSergei Shoigu, and the chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov.
Walking at night among dozens of corpses presented as those of members of the paramilitary group recently killed in combat, he said: “These guys belong to Wagner. They died this Friday, their blood is still warm (…) They died so they could gain weight in their offices!”
“You sit in your expensive clubs and your children enjoy life, make videos on YouTube!” Prigozhin added, unleashing a salvo of insults.
“Shoigu! Gerasimov! Where’s my fucking ammunition?” he yelled angrily.