The Wagner Group announced a withdrawal from the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in an expletive-laden video as tensions between the mercenaries and the Russian Defense Ministry continue to rise.
“His blood is still fresh, and now, listen to me, b—-,” Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner’s founder and leader, said in a video as he walked among the bodies of dead soldiers. “These are somebody’s parents and children.”
“And those [expletive] those who don’t give us ammunition will burn in hell, eating their guts out, [expletive]” he continued, directing his rant at Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, and Valeri Gerasimov, the chief of staff. “We are 70% short of ammunition. Shoigu, Gerasimov, where’s the ammo? Look at them, b…!”
Wagner’s boss has resorted to increasingly angry rants as he finds his influence diminished and his position alienated from the Russian military command.
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Prigozhin has tried to use the press to force the hand of the Russian military leadership, first by offering an interview with a pro-war Russian blogger in which he warned that his troops were running low on ammunition, saying that ” everything else will collapse” if he has to throw his forces away.
He then followed up with the video released this week, saying the lack of ammunition has caused casualties to “increase ‘exponentially every day'”, the BBC reported.
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“My guys will not suffer unnecessary and unjustified losses in Bakhmut without ammunition,” he stated, stressing that without the much-needed bullets and other ammunition, he would be “forced to transfer positions in the settlement of Bakhmut to units of the Ministry of Defense. and remove Wagner’s remains to the logistics fields to lick our wounds.”
“You scoundrels are sitting in expensive clubs; your kids are enjoying life and making YouTube videos,” she continued. “You think you are the masters of this life and that you have the right to control their lives. You think if you have ammunition depots, you’re entitled to them.”
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“There are simple calculations: if you give the normal amount of ammunition, there will be five times less. [dead]”, he threatened. “They came here as volunteers and are dying so you can get fat in mahogany offices.”
A senior Ukrainian official said today that Russia was bringing in mercenary Wagner fighters from other areas to try to push for victory in Bakhmut ahead of Russia’s May 9 Victory Day celebrations. Wagner has been trying to take the city since last summer, causing heavy casualties throughout the period. campaign, according to The Times UK.
Prigozhin enjoyed a privileged position as Russian President Vladimir Putin increasingly leaned on Wagner to maintain his troop numbers as his forces continued to suffer higher-than-expected losses in Ukraine.
With his success and growing influence, Prigozhin appeared to be trying to seize power from Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, according to a close aide and two Western officials. The associate claimed that Prigozhin referred to Shoigu as “our biggest enemy, not the Ukrainians,” according to The Financial Times.
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One of Prigozhin’s close associates compared the mercenary chief to “Icarus,” who flew too close to the sun and burned himself. The appointment of Valery Gerasimov as the new chief of staff, the most senior official in the Russian military, saw Prigozhin’s position greatly diminished.
He previously accused the military command of “treason” for depleting its men with much-needed ammunition and ending its ability to recruit non-stop in prisons, a program that proved highly controversial with the Russian public.
Rob Lee, a military analyst at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, wrote on Twitter that Wagner’s lack of ammunition may reflect Russia’s defense ministry rationing ammunition ahead of Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive.
“Wagner has long had a significant artillery advantage on Bakhmut and has received preferential support,” Lee wrote in a tweet. “The Ministry of Defense must defend the entire front, but Prigozhin only cares about taking Bakhmut.”
“Wagner and Prigozhin have always represented a command unity problem in this war,” he added. “Putin likes to use competing factions as a way to maintain power, but that’s very damaging in a military operation.”
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