Russia's Wagner Group boss backpedals on Bakhmut withdrawal
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, reversed course on a planned withdrawal from Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, claiming that Russia’s top military brass has pledged to send his fighters “as much ammunition and weapons” as necessary.
Prigozhin shared an audio message on his Telegram channel Sunday, announcing his intention to carry on the assault on Bakhmut, which Russian forces have been trying to seize for nearly nine months.
“We have been promised as much ammunition and weapons as we need to continue further operations,” Prigozhin said. “We have been promised that everything needed to prevent the enemy from cutting us off (from supplies) will be deployed.”
In a follow-up message, the Wagner Group’s boss claimed that his units had advanced 920 feet. “We are moving forward. We are expecting to receive ammunition,” he said.
Prigozhin also shared a bizarre propaganda video showing a young boy dressed in a World War II-style Soviet uniform.
Wagner Group’s Yevgeny Prigozhin backpedaled on a plan to withdraw from Bakhmut this week. AP
Prigozhin claimed that Russia’s military brass has pledged to provide all the necessary ammunition and weapons to his fighters in eastern Ukraine. SPECIAL OPERATION FORCES OF UKRAINE / Twitter
“When fascists attacked us in 1941, we stood up in defense of the country and fought the whole war,” the boy says.
“In 2022, my Motherland was once again in danger, and in her defense my father and my uncle stood up, my father for the Russian army, my uncle in the Wagner forces,” the young child continues haltingly. “I’m asking our country’s leadership to give shells to Wagner. I’m sure that all of us together will defeat the Nazis. I want everyone to come home alive.”
Two days earlier, Prigozhin, a catering mogul and close ally of Vladimir Putin, released a video statement vowing to abandon Bakhmut by May 10 after being starved of ammunition and suffering “useless and unjustified” losses as a result.
On Friday, Prigozhin made a video statement, saying that his ammunition-starved forces will withdraw from Bakhmut on May 10. TELEGRAM/ @concordgroup_official/AFP via Getty Images
Prigozhin shot a grisly video showing dozens of bloodied corpses of Wagner mercenaries, who he said were killed because they did not have enough ammo. AP
Dressed in military gear and flanked by scores of his armed fighters, Prigozhin lashed out at “military-adjacent bureaucrats,” whom he accused of undermining Wagner’s success.
“Because they think they will go down in history as victors while shaking their fat bellies. They already went down in history as cowards,” Prigozhin says in the video.
“I officially declare to the head of the General Staff and the commander in chief: My guys will not be taking senseless and unjustified casualties in Bakhmut without ammunition,” the Wagner owner says. “Therefore, from May 10, 2023, we are leaving the settlement of Bakhmut.”
Contrary to Prigozhin’s claims, Ukrainian officials said that Russian forces have stepped up shelling of their positions in Bakhmut. AFP via Getty Images
Hours prior, Prigozhin shared a grisly video showing dozens of slaughtered Wagner fighters as he ranted about a lack of ammunition in a foul-mouthed tirade directed at Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
“The bastards that don’t give us ammunition will eat their f—ing guts in hell!” the visibly enraged Wagner founder yelled.
Over the course of his mercenary group’s involvement in the war, Prigozhin has repeatedly accused Russia’s Ministry of Defense of failing to supply his soldiers with sufficient quantities of ammunition and has issued threats to quit the battlefield, none of which he has not carried out.
With Post wires
Source: New York Post
