The boss of Russia’s Wagner Group says Moscow has agreed to demands for more ammunition, after it threatened to withdraw its men from Bakhmut.
On Thursday, Yevgeny Prigozhin lashed out at her Russian partners in a gruesome, angry satire, filmed amid dozens of corpses of Wagner soldiers.
The next day he said that Wagner’s men would leave Bakhmut by May 10.
But on Sunday, Prigozhin said Moscow had agreed to provide “the equipment needed to continue the fight” in the city.
Prigosan’s apparent U-turn is not a big surprise. He is a publicity seeker who has not followed through on previous threats.
Russian soldiers and fighters from Wagner, a private military company, have been trying to capture Bakhmut for months – despite its questionable strategic value.
Western officials believe that thousands of Russian and Wagner soldiers have been killed in the fighting and that the eastern Ukrainian city has become a symbolic prize.
Yet – even though Russian soldiers and Wagner’s fighters are on the same side – it’s an uneasy alliance.
Prigozhin has regularly criticized Russian officials for what he claims is a lack of front-line support.
In his new statement, Prigozhin claimed that General Sergei Sarvokin – who commanded Russian forces in Ukraine between October and January – was appointed to liaise between Russia’s regular army and Wagner’s mercenaries. had gone.
“This is the only man who has the star of an army general who knows how to fight,” Prigozhin said. “No other Army general is reasonable.”
Although Prigozhin did not explicitly change his commitment to withdraw troops from Bakhmut, he said his forces had been “authorized to operate in Bakhmut as we see fit” – it seemed. That they will stay.
The Kremlin has not commented on Prigozhin’s latest statement.
Wagner has his own set of commanders, objectives and motivations, and Prigozhin is widely believed to have his own domestic political ambitions.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov have often been the focus of their anger, amid reports of infighting between factions of different powers in Vladimir Putin’s delegation.
In his statement on Thursday, Prigozhin raged: “Shovigo! Gerasimov! Where is the… ammunition?… They came here as volunteers and would die to fatten themselves in your mahogany offices.” are.”
And he said Wagner’s casualties were “increasing in geometric progression every day” due to lack of ammunition.
At the time, Ukrainian officials expressed doubts that Prigozhin truly intended to withdraw his forces from Bakhmut.
Deputy Defense Minister Hina Miliar said on Friday that Wagner was in fact redeploying mercenaries to Bakhmut to capture the city ahead of Victory Day celebrations in Russia on Tuesday.
