The head of the Russian Wagner mercenary unit, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is threatening to withdraw his troops from the disputed Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The reason for this is the high losses due to a lack of supply. “Every day we have piles of thousands of bodies that we put in the coffin and send home,” Prigozhin said in an interview with Russian military blogger Semyon Pegov published Saturday.
The losses are five times as high as necessary due to a lack of artillery ammunition. He wrote a letter to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to get supplies as soon as possible. “If the ammunition shortage is not replenished, we are forced – not to run like cowardly rats afterwards – or retreat in an organized manner or die,” Prigozhin said.
Withdrawal of Wagner from Bachmut would have a domino effect
He would probably be forced to withdraw some of his troops, but that would mean the front would collapse elsewhere, he warned. Fighting has been going on for months over Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. Casualties are high on both sides, with the Ukrainian defenders controlling only a small portion west of the city.
Ukrainians“waiting for better weather”
The Ukrainian army is ready for a counter-offensive. She’s just waiting for better weather so the soft ground doesn’t stop her from making progress. He predicts the offensive will begin on May 15, Prigozhin said. At the same time, he repeated his sharp criticism of the leadership of the Russian army: there is a lack of discipline and organization.
Prigozhin can afford the criticism, as he is considered a confidant of President Vladimir Putin, whom he spoke to as an official in St. Petersburg. According to research by independent journalists, Prigozhin earned a lot of money from the war in Ukraine through contracts with the Ministry of Defense. The media portal Moschem objasnit (“We can explain”) recently reported that Prigozhin’s companies had earned as much as 4.7 billion rubles (about 52 million euros) in the past year.
Source: Krone
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